Overcoming Fears
by sajere1
Summary: I was always different, even as a child. Everyone else was scared of the dark. I've always been scared of the light. Sora/OC, onesided Riku/OC
1. A New Life

I own nothing.

**~Overcome Your Fears~**

**Chapter 1: A New Life**

"We're moving where?" I asked, unhappy with what was happening in my life.

My mother sighed. "It's a small town called Destiny Islands, Lexi. It's just for summer break, and we think this will be good for you."

"You dress too darkly nowadays. You need to get out more," dad advised. I stared down at my clothes.

Ok, so maybe I'm a little dark, and my clothes are a little too black, and I lock myself in my room all the time. And maybe my parents have been worried about me. But you know what? I don't care what they think. It's called independence—freedom of expression, old-timers! Unlike back in the days where dinosaurs and my parents roamed the earth, our laws allow us to express ourselves.

"I'm not going," I said firmly.

"Yes, you are," dad replied, just as strictly. "We have an old friend who you can stay with for a while. He has a daughter about your age, and you can play with her and her friends."

I rolled my eyes. "Dad, I'm fourteen. I don't 'play' anymore. I _hang out. _Besides, what about my other friends? I have plans with Anna!"

Anna's my best friend. She's a year older than me, and we're exact opposites—she's preppy and cheerful, I'm dark and pretty moody. This was the year that she was finally going to help me get my crush since second grade, Anthony. We weren't going to stalk him or anything, but we were going to ask him to hang out with us or something! There goes my summer vacation!

"Cheer up, sis," a new voice said, walking into the room. I rolled my eyes; my stupid older brother, Broderick, is in my life for the sole purpose of annoying me to death, and he enjoys his job a lot more than he should. He looks pretty average for a fifteen-year-old—he has black hair like me, and his eyes are bright blue, unlike mine, which are a murky brown. "It's just a little sun. It won't hurt you."

Dad shot him a warning glare, but it was too late. "Sun?" I asked, my eyes frantically shifting as if searching for the light. "Not sun. Not a chance. I refuse to go."

See, I have severe photophobia, which is the fear of light. My eyes are very sensitive, and even one glance of the sun will make me scream, which sort of explains my home-schooling and the fact that I only know the kids from my neighborhood. It's also why I don't wear bright colors. I'm not totally sure why I'm scared of light—that's a memory I've long since forgotten. All I know is that, whenever even a hint of brightness comes in, I feel a wave of pure terror and I just want to curl up into a ball. It's been like this as long as I can remember.

"Lexi," dad pleaded, "please see sense." But I was too far gone.

"No…" I whispered, my head between my knees, trying to keep that image of bright light from my head and barely holding back tears. "No light…please…"

Seeing that I was a lost cause, my parents left, ushering Broderick (note to self: must kill my brother) with them and leaving me alone so that I could finally let out a few terrified sobs. I was sure this wasn't the last I'd hear of the trip—they'd probably force me to go. But right then, when I was stifling cries of horror and trying my hardest not to absolutely bawl like a stupid baby, I didn't really care.

* * *

"I hate you," I told Broderick as soon as we stepped off the plane.

He just grinned. Unfortunately, he'd been right before; it was very sunny here, and I was forced to wear some very shaded sunglasses and a bright grey fedora over my eyes to stop myself from screaming. Actually, I must have really stood out from the crowd—a girl dressed in a black skull t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and converse with completely straight black hair, skin that's practically white, sunglasses and a fedora to hide my face is bound to be noticeable anywhere, really.

Sighing, I fought my way through the large crowd at the airport. It had been a week since I'd first been told I'd been going on this pointless trip for the rest of the summer, I'd just spent three hours on a plane ride, and I heard people talking about how sunny it was today. Needless to say, I was not happy. And my mood didn't really improve when my baggage didn't show up.

"Where is it?" I grumbled, watching as all of the bags made another revolution. Broderick shrugged, bouncing back and forth on his feet in the most annoying way ever. "Would you stop?" I asked, irritated.

"Nope," he replied, popping the 'p' at the end. And just to annoy me further, he started whistling.

I stood there, agonizing over whether or not to slap him across the face with my carry-on bag, when I heard a voice comment, "Excuse me, are you Broderick and Lexi?"

"That's us," I replied, turning around. Standing there were four people. One of them, this really old guy who just smiled weakly, was the person I assumed was the mayor. The girl next to him had really short red hair, and she was grinning. She looked kind of girly, but having hung out with Anna for most of my life, she wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Standing awkwardly next to her was a boy who light brown hair that stuck out at all angles and bright blue eyes. He was staring at my clothes, awed. And next to him was another boy, one who looked about Broderick's age, which meant that my brother wouldn't bug me as much. He had aquamarine eyes and silver hair that reached his shoulders.

I was thinking, _silver hair when he's fifteen? Wow. Either he's really short or really stressed out. _But I stayed silent. Te red-head spoke, beaming. "I'm Kairi, and this is Sora and Riku." She motioned to each of them in turn.

I nodded in their general direction. "Lexi," I smiled. "And the idiot standing next to me is my older brother, Broderick."

"Hey!" he protested, but I had already taken off to grab my bag, seeing as to how it had finally appeared. Shouldering it, I sighed.

"Welcome," said the old man, and his voice was crackly. I shuddered; it was hard to imagine being with this guy for a full car ride, much less my entire summer. Sighing, I resigned myself to the fact that it would only get worse from then on.

If I'd known just how much worse, I would've taken a plane back home, right then and there.

I was mostly silent on the car ride home; Kairi and what's-his-name—Sora, I think—chattered animatedly, using their hands a lot. Broderick struck up a conversation with Riku, and I stared at my feet, refusing to stare out the window because of the light.

"Hey, Lexi," Sora said, and I turned to see him leaning against the front of his seat and the back of mine.

"Yes?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"Why aren't you talking? You look like you're doing some deep thinking."

_Maybe because I am, _I thought. "No reason," I replied absently. "Just wondering what the islands will be like."

His eyes lit up and he started a rant that felt like it took _hours. _I was half-asleep by the time we reached the large house that I assumed was Kairi's, and I practically threw myself outside. It was hard not to yell my thanks to God, but not too hard, because that would've involved looking at the sun.

Anyways, after I made my way out of the car, the others followed me, the first being Broderick and the last being Sora. I made my way inside, the entire troupe chatting and laughing behind me, giving me a small headache. I found one of their spare bedrooms and, after shooing everyone out, started to unpack.

The first thing I took out was a picture of Anna grinning while I made a face. I smiled fondly at the memory before sighing unhappily.

This was going to be one heck of a summer vacation.

* * *

"You go without me," I exclaimed to Kairi, who was currently lying, upside-down, on my bed.

"Aw," she complained lightly. "Where's the fun in coming to an island if you don't even swim?"

I smiled slightly before shrugging. "The sun just doesn't agree with me. Whenever it's cloudy or rainy out I'll come, OK?"

After pouting for a few more minutes, she gave up and left for the beach, along with my brother, who was making cryptic remarks about how 'am I allergic to light or something?', earning himself a glare from me. Nobody here knew about my aversion to light, and I was going to keep it that way!

When they were gone, I sighed, bored. I wasn't going outside, my cell phone was charging, and stupid me—I'd left my laptop at home. Sighing, I wandered around the house that I would be staying in for the rest of the summer. Grabbing an apple for sustenance, I traveled up the stairs to find an old, worn-out attic—the perfect place for someone to hide a deep, dark secret. Not bothering to contain my grin, I stuck the apple core in my pocket and started searching.

An hour or two later, I was lying on my back, staring at the ceiling. Sure, I'd found some cool stuff up there—there was this awesome antique record player, and these really weird photos of what looked like a UFO—but nothing kept me occupied for more than a few minutes.

In resignation, I trudged downstairs and into my temporary/somewhat permanent guest room. Collapsing onto the bed, I was startled when I heard a somewhat familiar voice comment, "You could always go outside."

I sat up and turned to look at the silverette intruder. "What do you want, Riku?" I asked, tired.

He shrugged. "Nothing. Kairi kept complaining that you were probably lonely, so I came here to make her stop bugging me."

I chuckled. "Anything for girls, right?"

He made a face. "You say that because you've never fallen for their charms!"

We were both laughing by now. "Oh, so I'm supposed to fall for a girl's charms?" I asked, mock offended. "I'm sorry, Riku, but I think that that is out of the question. That would be like you falling for Sora!"

"Oh, please," he complained lightly. "You wouldn't believe how many girls on this island have asked if I'm gay for him."

My eyes widened. "Seriously?" I asked, barely holding back a snort.

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously," he nodded.

I couldn't help myself. I busted out laughing. "Oh…my…gosh!" I gasped out between my giggles. "You must be _joking!_"

He grinned. "No lie," he replied. "I personally don't see what's so funny about this."

I was holding my side when I stopped for breath. "You don't know?" I asked, disbelieving.

The rest of the evening went in that fashion—we bantered playfully, chatted about random unimportant topics, and somehow, he even found my ticklish spot (which I will never tell you about). When Kairi came back, I was laughing with him at the front door, working to push him out of the house.

"Come on, you big lug! Move!" I grunted. "God, Riku. How much do you _weigh?_"

"More than you," he challenged, holding his grip on the door frame.

I rolled my eyes. "Help me out here, Kairi," I pleaded. She just chuckled and ducked under his arms. I made a face over my shoulder before, with one final push, his fingers let go and he stumbled outside.

"Bye," I said brightly and slammed the door on his face.

I could see him waving through the window; I waved back before returning to the very dark safety of my new room.

* * *

I thought it would be an interesting twist to have someone be scared of the light. This IS a Sora x OC fic, but it includes one-sided Riku x OC. And…yeah.

Did you love it? Hate it? I want to know! All you have to do is press that pretty little review button!


	2. The Beginning

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 2: The Beginning**

"BRODERICK!" I yelled, chasing said idiot throughout the house. "GIVE IT BACK! I CALLED DIBS!"

He stuck his tongue out at me over his shoulder. He waved the last chocolate-chip cookie—the product of my pretty much annual boredom and Riku's limited imagination—just out of my reach. "Too bad!" he replied, teasingly dropping it in his mouth in slow motion.

I screeched. "YOU IDIOT!" I exclaimed.

Meet my brother, world-class glutton.

Barely avoiding my wrath and barricading himself in his room, he yelled taunts through the walls. He stopped whenever I asked Kairi if she had a chainsaw. Fuming, I returned to my own room, lying on my bed. Normally, everyone would be getting ready to leave at this time and I would just be waiting impatiently for Riku to come over—that was our ritual from the first day, which was about 2 weeks ago. Surprisingly, the time had gone really fast. But anyways, today the sky was completely covered with clouds, so Kairi was forcing me to go swimming.

It's not that I don't like the water. The best feeling in the world was when my mom would take me out on her boat on cloudy days—holding on to a tube for dear life, only attached to the colossal vessel by a flimsy string. The greatest thing I've ever tried—I still love it. But then, this wasn't home, so I didn't know if the weather would suddenly clear up and I would be forced to stare into the blinding light or what. If that happened, I'd go nuts. So I brought my fedora and sunglasses, just in case.

Kairi tsked as I stepped out of the changing room. I looked down at my suit, wondering what was wrong with it. It was black shorts (SHORT shorts) and a black bikini top. It couldn't be that bad, right? Which is why her next words took me by surprise. "Why are you always wearing that hat?" she asked disapprovingly. "And those sunglasses. It'd be nice to see your eyes once in a while, Lexi."

I rolled my eyes, which she couldn't see, though I'm sure my sarcastic tone made it evident. "Why, they make my fashion statement, Kai. Without them, I wouldn't look like myself."

Kairi smiled slightly. "Oh, all right. Come on—we're meeting Riku and Sora down at the shack." I nodded and followed her. Kairi's pretty cool, really—a little too into clothes, and a bit too happy-go-lucky, but still, a nice person. We were friendly towards each other, and by now, she'd gotten used to my, ah, "attitude."

As we walked, I stared at the sky, judging whether or not any light would shine through. Luckily, it honestly looked as if it might rain today, which was my type of weather. I showed a private grin before looking forward to see Riku, Sora, and Broderick, who had somehow snuck out before I could notice him. Of course, I chased him up and down the beach. Hey, what else was I supposed to do? He stole my cookie!

About a half-hour later, whenever I'd gotten my vengeance and everyone else had stopped laughing, Kairi dragged us all down the shore to swim. "We can walk, Kai," I complained lightly.

"Sure, but then you'd run away," she retorted. I had no answer to that.

And so I was dragged torturously into the water. Sighing, I yanked myself out of her grasp and just let myself float for awhile. Of course, my resolve for peace completely dissolved when a splash war started and I was in the middle.

I was just lying there peacefully, not bothering anyone, when suddenly, there was water on my face. I spluttered, standing to glare at Sora who was slowly backing away. "You will pay," I growled before launching into a full-out splash attack. The two of us kept that up for a while, but eventually we got tired. Sora practically sank, and I had to dive to stop him from drowning.

As I pulled him up, I grunted, "God, Sora, you're almost as heavy as Riku!" He made a face at me, and I earned myself another splash from Riku. Too tired to fight back, I just stuck out my tongue and dropped Sora on the sand, collapsing right next to him.

After a few more hours of swimming, the five of us sit on top of a long tree branch. I was lying down, dangling off the edge, Riku was standing and leaning on it, Sora and Kairi were sitting together (I swear they like each other), and Broderick was leaning on the tree from the other side. We all talked for a while, and eventually the talk turned to us.

"Where are you from, Broderick?" Kairi asked, turning eagerly to my brother. OK, so maybe she doesn't have a thing for Sora.

Broderick shrugged. "We're from a small town. It's called Miller City, and not many people know about it."

"Another town?" Riku asked. "Or another world?"

"How would we have gotten here if it was another world?" I asked, staring at him in disbelief.

He shrugged. "The airplane was a gummy ship?" Before I could tell him that he was an idiot, he pointed upwards. "Hey! The stars are coming out!"

We all looked up at the sky, and while we weren't paying attention, it had filled with multiple bright balls of gas—stars. I stared at them pleasantly—no light here!—until something caught my eye.

"That star's going out!" I exclaimed.

I wasn't joking. The thing flickered and died almost immediately. We all stared.

"Well, _that _wasn't weird at all," Broderick decided.

We all agreed and decided to head back home—not only was it cold, but that had just freaked me out really badly. After saying good-bye to Riku and Sora, the three of us started to Kairi's house. Broderick walked ahead, which resulted in a slightly awkward chat.

"Riku likes you," Kairi said as soon as he was out of earshot.

I stared at her. "What?"

"Riku likes you," she repeated. I rolled my eyes.

"I know what you said, Kairi. I also know that it isn't true."

She snorted. "Don't tell me that you haven't seen him staring at you!"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Well…no."

She stared. "Seriously? You're clueless. You don't know how many girls wish that they could be in your shoes."

"Is someone jealous?" I teased.

She turned red. "N-no! I-I just—"

I snorted. "Relax. I was joking." I opened the door, which Broderick had so kindly shut on my face, to her house and we walked. "Talk to you later. I'm going to go call Anna."

She nodded, but it was pretty obvious that she wasn't giving up. I walked into my room reluctantly, grabbing my phone and dialing Anna's number.

_The number you are trying to call does not exist. _Huh, that's creepy. Anna's always had the same cell number. I tried again, dialing my mom this time.

_The number you are trying to call does not exist. _What? Stupid operator! They can't do anything right! One more time, I tried, this time calling Anthony. Sure, I'd be deadly embarrassed if he recognized my voice, but I was desperate here.

_The number you are try—_I threw my phone against the wall, which probably wasn't the best move, because now the screen had a huge crack in it. Just great. Now any entertainment that night was gone. Sighing, I lay down on my bed. What was wrong at home? Something weird must be happening. I wondered if it had anything to do with that star that had blinked out…it had looked so close to here…

* * *

"Ugh," I blinked myself awake. "Where are we? And…why am I lying on sand?" I sat up, and my hair fell back behind me. Looking around, I realized that I was on the beach on a _hot _day—and by hot, I mean BRIGHT hot. Luckily, someone had stuffed my fedora on my head and my sunglasses on my face so that I didn't burst out crying. I looked down to check that I wasn't still wearing my PJs, and was a bit relieved to find my normal clothes on.

I judged the distance from here to Kairi's house. I had no clue what part of the beach I was on, but I could clearly see where we were the day before, so I figured about a mile away. I started the walk grudgingly.

"And where do you think you're going?" a voice asked behind me. I turned around.

"Back to Kairi's house," I replied, working to keep my panic level down. Even with my glasses and hat, it was pretty bright. So being on the edge of a nervous breakdown wasn't the best idea with someone talking to me and all.

He shook his head. "Um…no. Kairi wanted you to help us with the raft."

I turned to him. "What _raft?_"

Riku grinned, the log under his arms coming up as he shrugged. "We want to travel to see other worlds. Broderick said you'd be happy to come along."

I moaned, but after much persuasion on his part and threats from both sides, I gave in. Mostly because I'd never hear the end of it if I backed out now. And so we trudged along the side until we found Kairi with a sleeping Sora. A moment after, he woke up, sitting up and yawning before lying back down.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, suddenly sitting up. He turned on his knees. Kairi laughed as he turned to look at her. "Give me a break, Kairi."

Kairi straightened. "Sora, you lazy bum," she teased. "I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."

"No!" Sora exclaimed. "This huge, black _THING _swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't—" he was interrupted when Kairi hit him. "Ow!"

"Are you still dreaming?" she replied, bending down, which seemed kind of counterproductive to me since she'd just stood.

"It wasn't a dream!" he insisted. "Or was it? I don't know. What was that place? So bizarre…"

I rolled my eyes. Honestly, Sora needed to learn to stand up for himself. I swear, I've never seen anyone swayed so easily by a decision—and by Kairi, no less. "Yeah, sure," she snorted, disbelieving.

As Kairi started to walk (and Riku and I stood there, unnoticed), Sora started to speak. "Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up."

"I've told you before, I don't remember," she replied, and her smile was evident in her voice.

"Nothing at all?" he repeated. I had to roll my eyes again.

"Nothing."

"You ever want to go back?" he asked, curious.

"Well, I'm happy here," she said.

"Really…" he replied doubtfully.

"But you know…" she continued. "I wouldn't mind going to see it."

"I'd like to see it, too," Sora agreed, nodding. "Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see 'em all!"

"So what're we waiting for?" she grinned.

"Hey," Riku chose that moment to interrupt, with me hustling to keep up with his fast pace. "aren't you guys forgetting about us?" He motioned in our direction, and I grinned as they turned towards us. "So, I guess we're the only ones working on the raft. And you were the ones to drag her out here!"

I glared in their direction. "For the record," I commented, "never trust Broderick's judgment on me. He'll probably lie."

He threw the log at Sora, who fell backwards trying to catch it. "And you're just as lazy as he is!" he scolded Kairi.

She giggled. "So you noticed. Okay, we'll finish it together! I'll race you!"

"Huh?" Sora complained.

Riku, who had already flopped comfortably on the sand, whined, "What? Are you kidding?"

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, you big baby. A little running won't hurt you."

"Ready? Go!"

I took off as soon as Kairi yelled, but the boys still easily caught up to me when they were running. Great. So now we can add to that never-ending list that Riku's faster than I am. We all grinned and poured on the speed, except Kairi, who was about a mile behind us.

After receiving assignments from Kairi, we all started off as soon as possible. I finished early, and I decided to go home—like I said, it was _bright_ out, and I wanted to get out before the sunset, which was the sunniest part of the day, strangely enough.

* * *

_Meanwhile, at Disney Castle…_

The short, feathery wizard marched throughout the halls, on his way to great His Majesty. Immensely proud, he held his head high, though it didn't do much for his height. He walked past a line of working brooms before making it to a huge door which, when the duck knocked upon it, opened into a much smaller door.

As he walked down the gigantic hallway, he called in a voice that would crack many eardrums, "Good morning, Your Majesty!" Completely unaware that he was talking to thin air, he continued. "It's nice to see you this morn—" he froze at the sight of a small, orange dog. "What!"

The small, orange head of a dog popped up from behind the throne, a bit timidly. Donald cocked his head at the paper in the dog's mouth, wondering where the King had gone. His eyes scanned the page after he finally took it out of the animal's mouth, growing more surprised with every word.

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Goofy stirred slightly at the disturbance, muttering in his sleep before turning slightly. The poor knight had been training all that morning and, without even the strength to walk to his room, had collapsed on the grass. Donald rushed out, yelling. "Wake up, Goofy! Wake up! This is serious!"

After a few attempts to wake him up civilly, Donald lost his patience and blasted him. This just was not his day. Goofy sat up lazily. "Hey there, Donald. G' morning."

"We've got a problem, Goofy!" Donald interrupted rudely. He looked around secretively. "But don't tell anyone…"

"Queen Minnie?" Goofy questioned, looking over Donald's shoulder.

"Not even the queen!" Donald shook his head importantly.

"Daisy?" Goofy repeated, sounding even more panicked.

"No!" Donald yelled. "It's top secret!"

"G' morning, ladies!"

Donald's jaw dropped, and he turned to see two very angry-looking women. Goofy wasn't the only one having a bad day.

* * *

I PROMISE that after this the chapters will get longer! I've got HUGE plans for this fic. Possibly a sequel…if it's popular.

Thanks to those who:

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I find it ironic that four people alerted and nobody favorite. Creepy…

**Review replies:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: I'm glad you liked it! And, yes, I tried to make that as mysterious as possible. Actually, there's a great, very dramatic reason she's scared of it.

Hope I haven't ruined your judgment with this last chapter. It will be following the KH plotline, but with my own twists. Actually, I have a lot planned out for it.


	3. Beyond the Door

I own nothing.

* * *

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 3: Beyond the Door**

_"Sora!" Riku called down the bridge. I turned and was hit in the face with a paopu fruit. He was holding another one. "You wanted one, didn't you?"_

_"A paopu fruit?" I replied, completely confused. Why was Riku giving me this?_

_"Its powers are legendary," Riku explained, as if to a three-year-old. "If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives, no matter what." He glanced down at his own hand, grinning. I could tell that he was thinking about Lexi, who he had a very big crush on. "C'mon, I know you want to try it."_

_"What are you talking—" Riku interrupted me with laughter. I threw my fruit over the bridge and ran after him._

_"Lexi!" I heard my own voice call out. "Come on, Lexi! Wake up!"_

I opened my eyes just as Sora's face leaned in, concerned. Startled, I bounced backwards in my bed. "She's awake!" he called, and I heard Kairi yell something back, probably "Hold her down until I get back!"

Meanwhile, I was shaking some lingering bits of my dream out of my head. I don't know how or why, but somehow I was actually in Sora's mind. And I don't mean that in my dream, I looked like Sora—I mean I seriously was Sora. I had his voice and I couldn't think on my own or anything. It was crazy.

After getting the creepy vibes out of my head, changing into something other than weird old linen pajamas, and being dragged down to the beach by Kairi and Sora, I started to gather up supplies. Today it was rations, though why we couldn't just make food inside, I had no clue. I was just grabbing a fish when I saw something moving up next to the shack and decided to go check it out.

"What's happening?" I asked, sitting cross-legged on the sand and turning away from the sun.

Kairi was smiling before I started to hear their argument. "We're naming the raft Highwind!" Riku exclaimed angrily.

Sora shook his head. "Excalibur is a much better name!"

I rolled my eyes before jumping in. "Guys, seriously. Either compete over it or choose a different name completely."

They glared at each other for a moment. "The usual?" Kairi asked, breaking the semi-awkward silence. They both nodded and chose starting points. I could see them talking, but I couldn't hear what it was about.

"Three, two, one—GO!" I yelled, and they were off. Unfortunately for Sora, Riku had broken in the boards first, so he fell straight into the sea. Riku was there and back by the time Sora had made it halfway across.

"You could be a little easier on him," I commented, dismayed.

He rolled his eyes. "Why should I?" he argued. But before it could be an all-out fight, Sora arrived, panting. "We're naming the raft Highwind," Riku said, his voice stone-cold. Sora sighed before giving in.

The rest of the day was spent gathering supplies, beating up on Selphie a little, and running around with Riku. The only thing weird that happened involved a lot of foreshadowing comments that confused both me and Sora.

"Hey, what's this?" I asked, staring into the whole.

Sora, who had just walked along, grinned at me. "It's our secret place. Come on, I'll show you!"

We had to duck to get inside, but it was completely worth it. The cave was covered in pictures, and some of them were weird, UFO-ish things. Sora knelt down near one that looked like him and Kairi. I wondered vaguely how it was made. A sudden noise that came from behind startled us both. "Wh-who's there?" Sora asked unsurely as we turned.

"I've come to see the door to this world."

It was an unearthly voice, and one that I didn't quite understand. The door to this world? What did that mean? "What?" I asked, head cocked.

"This world has been connected," it continued, as if oblivious that I had just asked him a question.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked unsurely, as if he wasn't sure this was real. Truthfully, I didn't know either.

"Tied to the darkness…soon to be completely eclipsed."

"Dude, we're talking to you," I commented angrily.

"Whoever you are, stop freaking us out like this. Huh? Wh-where did you come from?" I understood Sora's confusion. Some dude in a black cloak had just suddenly appeared. Hey, why don't I get one of those?

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door." Why was he just ignoring our questions? Why even show up if he was just going to talk in riddles?

"So you're from another world!" Sora exclaimed, excited. I rolled my eyes. Of course, Sora would just randomly talk about _that _with the first stranger to come along.

"There is so very much to learn," the dude preached. "You understand so little."

"Oh, yeah?" I sighed. Leave it to Sora—excited to angry in three seconds flat. "Well, you'll see! I'm gonna get out and learn what's out there!"

I swear, I _heard _this dude rolling his eyes. "A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

Something caught my attention. I turned to look at it—a glistening mahogany door. When I looked back, the man was gone.

"Oh, that's just great," I grumbled. "Come along and give us meaningless riddles! Someone out there is really trying to help us, huh?"

Sora left soon after, but I hesitated. I mean, sure it was dark and creepy, but then again, it was _dark. _I could actually take off my hat and sunglasses here. But then I caught another glimpse of that door, and I was _out._

* * *

_Donald,_

_Sorry to rush off without sayin' good-bye, but there's big trouble brewin'. Not sure why, but the stars have been blinking out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I've gotta go check into it. There are some people with "keys"—the keys to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find the two of 'em and stick with 'em. Got it? We need those keys or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you in the right direction._

_P.S. Would ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal. _

"Oh, dear!" Daisy exclaimed, dismayed. "What could this mean?"

"It means we'll just have to trust the king," Minnie trilled back.

"Gawrsh, I sure hope he's all right," Goofy muttered, armor clanking.

"Your highness," Donald interrupted, "don't worry. We'll find the king and these 'keys.'"

"Thank you, both of you," Minnie replied gratefully.

"Daisy," Donald continued, "can you take care of the—"

"Of course," Daisy interrupted. "You be careful, now, both of you."

"Oh!" Minnie added as an afterthought. "And to chronicle your travels, he will accompany you." They all turned to look at the desk, but they found nothing.

A small bug in some type of suit started jumping up and down. "Over here!" he called. He finally stopped to straighten his jacket. "Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service."

"We hope for your safe return," Minnie declared, marking the end of the conversation. "Please help the king."

Goofy stood saluting until Donald grabbed him, yelling "You're coming too!" and dragging him to the gummy hangar.

* * *

"Lexi!" Kairi called, worried.

I turned towards the door. I was just fiddling around with my half-broken phone on my bed while a storm brew outside. "What?" I asked, looking up at her face.

"The raft!" she replied, and I shot up.

"Let's go!" I exclaimed, and the two of us ran to the shore, taking her boat to the islands. As we got closer, she seemed to become more and more tired until she looked like she was about to faint. "You OK?" I asked, worried. She just nodded sleepily.

We docked on the shore, and I had to put her arm around my shoulder for her to walk. We stumbled along the sand clumsily until making it to the cave from earlier. I didn't want to go in, but Kairi insisted, and I didn't have the heart to disagree with her state. "I'll be back, OK?" I asked her before setting her down gently. She nodded before I ran out to find some help. Me being me, I ran straight into a stone-cold body.

"AUGH!"

"Who's there?"

"Lexi?"

"Broderick?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm asking you the same question!"

After we separated and actually figured out who we were talking to, my brother explained. "I saw you all coming out here," he explained. "I wanted to make sure you were OK."

"We're fine, but—_What are those things?" _I stared at some weird black things that had just popped out of the ground, backing up slowly. Broderick looked just as scared, which I was not used to. Suddenly, something appeared in my hand. It was sort of like a key, only a lot bigger and more dangerous-looking. It was simple in design, the teeth only being something that barely jut out like a triangle with a lock shape inside. The handle had a diamond pattern, and it was in the shape of half of a heart. A keychain with a lock on it hung off the end.

_Lock and Key._

I didn't give myself time to consider the name, instead running forward and attacking the things. I don't know why, but I just got this sort of…feeling. Like I needed to protect Broderick or something. Crazy, I know. But it was working well for my fighting skills.

When they were all finally gone, I looked around before seeing Sora on top of a small island just outside the real islands. "Follow me," I told Broderick, and we both ran to him.

"Sora!" I called when we got up there. He turned as if coming out of a trance, and he was holding a key, too, but his was a whole lot simpler. "You've got one, too?" I asked showing him mine.

"Keyblade…" he muttered before finally snapping out of it. "Lexi! Where's Kairi?"

I rolled my eyes. "She's in the cave. Come on!"

The only sound was our feet hitting the ground. I noticed that Broderick didn't get his own weapon, and I had to wonder why. Broderick always got things before I did.

Suddenly, he collapsed. "Broderick!" I yelled, stopping. I turned and ran back to him. I heard Sora continuing to run towards Kairi. I knelt on the ground, shaking my brother. "Come on! Get up!" I yelled. "Idiot!"

Suddenly, I went flying. A pain in my gut told me that some sort of weapon had just hit me. I hit the ground with a loud "Oof!" When I looked up at Broderick, his eyes were glowing amber. He was holding a sort of heart sword with wings. Suddenly, his eyes returned to normal and he collapsed. "BRODERICK!" I screamed. The entire island was falling apart, and we were falling with it. And I…was so…sleepy…

* * *

That a dramatic enough ending for you? I, personally, thought that it was a pretty awesome chapter, and I'm glad I finished it in time. The link to the picture of their weapons will be on my profile by the morning, all right?

**Thanks to people who:**

**Favorited this story:**

Angie-ange

kh2 fan13

**Alerted this story:**

…I find this slightly backwards from last chapter…

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: What's your theory? I'm curious. Yay! I did not lose my reviewer! Thank God. I wasn't saying anyone had to favorite, I was just commenting on how weird it was.


	4. When in Rome

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 4: When in Rome**

_I felt something wet and slimy slide up my cheeks, slowly waking me up. I slowly took in my surroundings…a dark alleyway with a panting orange dog. "What a dream…" I commented sleepily. Well, sleepily until the dog pounced on me. "Wha!" I startled awake. "This isn't a dream! Where am I? Oh, boy." I stood. _

_"Do you know where we are?" I asked the dog, bending down to see it better. Of course, it ran off. "Hey!" I called, straightening. "Are you OK? Hello?"_

"Excuse me?" a woman's gentle voice finally shook me awake—just like Sora in my dream. I hoped this wasn't going to become a regular thing, because these dreams are really freaking me out.

"Five more minutes," I groaned, rolling over. With a fedora on, that isn't really the most comfortable position. The woman chuckled.

"I'm sorry, but…do you happen to have a key?"

I opened my eyes, startled, to find a very pretty woman looking down at me, concerned. She had long, brown hair, a pink dress, and an overlarge pink bow. There were a lot of things I could've said right then, but the only thing that I could think of was "You look like my friend Anna!"

The woman smiled. "I hope that's a complement. Do you have a key, though?"

"This?" I asked, summoning my weirdo weapon. She nodded.

"I'll be back," she said, rising. "I need to go find a few people. My name's Aerith," she added, walking out the door.

"Just great," I muttered. "Leave me to sit here and ponder." Luckily, she returned quickly…with a duck and a dog.

"Who are you!" the duck yelled, pointing.

Aerith shushed him. "You all might need to sit down, and hear the whole story."

Not looking too happy about it, the duck did sit, and the dog placed himself peacefully next to me. "The creatures on your world are known as heartless," she explained. "They wanted your heart because you wield the keyblade."

"The Keyblade?" I asked, head cocked. Isn't that what Sora said on the islands?

Aerith nodded. "There are many other worlds out there besides your castle, your world, and this town.

"Yeah," the duck said impatiently.

"But they're supposed to be a secret!" the dog explained, covering his mouth.

I rolled my eyes. "It's a little late for that," I pointed out. The duck glared.

"They've been secret before because they've never been connected," Aerith pointed out. "Until now."

"Wait, _what?_" I asked, completely lost.

"When the heartless came, everything changed," Aerith continued good-naturedly.

"Just what are the heartless?" I questioned.

"They are beings without hearts," Aerith said.

"Figured that out for myself, thanks," I muttered. "Not like it was hard."

Expertly tuning out my rambling, she went on. "They are attracted to the darkness in people's hearts. And every heart holds some darkness. This is what Ansem discovered."

"Ansem?" the dog asked, confused. You know, I should probably get their names, but for now, I'll nickname the dog Bob and the duck George. Those names just seem to fit them.

"He was studying the heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report."

"Gawrsh, uh, can we see it?" Bob asked, hand held out. I decided that I liked Bob.

"It's pages are scattered everywhere!" Aerith exclaimed almost _too _quickly for my taste.

"Scattered?" George asked, his permanent scowl deepening. _Bob is cooler, _I couldn't help but think.

"You know, put in random places? Not all together? Not here?" I explained impatiently.

"I know the definition!" he yelled at me. I shrugged it off. I got the feeling that George and I would _not _be good friends, even if I do figure out his real name.

Completely oblivious to our little spat, Bob pounded a fist on his hand. "Oh, then maybe the king went to find them!" I decided not to ask who the king was. It would just raise questions. George nodded.

"Yes, those were my thoughts exactly," Aerith commented.

"We've gotten find him quick!"

"Umm…random question here," I commented, "but what are your names?"

"I'm—" my dear friend George was cut off when Bob said, "Gawrsh, my name's Goofy!"

"Donald Duck!" Donald added from around his shoulder. "What about you?"

"I'm Lexi," I replied, nodding. "Nice to meet you. Now, could you just tell me what happened to my world?"

"Wait!" Donald exclaimed. "First we need those 'keys!'"

"That's right. The Keyblade," Aerith interrupted, causing us all to stare at her. Unconsciously, I summoned Lock and Key into my hand. "The heartless have great fear of it. They will constantly be trying to steal your heart."

"But why?" I asked desperately, holding out my keyblade. "It's not like I wanted this."

"The Keyblade chooses its master. It has chosen you," she explained quietly.

I frowned. "How did I even get here? All I remember is…hey, wait! Where's Broderick? Or Riku? Or Kairi?" I looked around desperately, as if they would just appear out of thin air. Unfortunately, the air was just as boring as always.

"I can't be sure," Aerith admitted.

I scowled. "Well, I can't just sit here! I have to go look for them!" I stood, but Goofy pulled me back down.

"Gawrsh, how about we find the other key and then you can chose to leave or stay?" he pleaded. I sighed, but nodded, and the four of us started to walk down the hall, which was apparently where we were supposed to be moving. And then, something made my day.

Donald was slammed against the wall.

If you'd have been there, you would laughed, too. Truthfully, I literally collapsed. It was just that funny. I laughed even harder when I realized that he was pretty much flat against the wall.

When he came unstuck, he scowled at me, and I stopped, giving him a glare of my own. I stood and, after adjusting my sunglasses slightly, we started to run forward.

We were standing on a balcony when these three weird things in armor suddenly popped up. "Gawrsh, are these the heartless guys?" Goofy questioned, raising his shield to block his face.

"Let's go get 'em, Goofy!" Donald yelled, running forward.

Now, I don't claim to be an expert on fighting, but I did know that Donald was doing something wrong. "Donald, you're going to get thrown"—he and Goofy flew through the air—"off." I sighed, shaking my head, before taking off my own battle stance and fighting off the supposed heartless.

When I looked back down, a very strange sight greeted me. There was a huge heartless-thing, and Donald and Goofy were fighting, which I expected. But next to them was someone, I was not expecting to see…

I slashed downward with my keyblade as a jumped down, landing a good, solid hit on the back of the thing's head. "Sora?" I yelled after landing on the ground.

"Lexi?" he yelled back, but we really didn't have time for a proper reunion. My instincts went into overdrive; slash, dodge, stab, repeat. Pretty soon, only the head and the torso were left, and they pretty much imploded before sending a crystal heart into the sky and disappearing.

I grinned at Sora. "Miss me?" I asked.

He, on the other hand, was gawking like an idiot. "When did you get here! And—you have them too? Since when—"

"I showed you back on the islands, remember?" I rolled my eyes. "Or were you in your trance then?"

After a few moments of introductions and reuniting, Sora (as always) started to ask questions. "So, you were looking for us?" he asked Donald and Goofy, gesturing to himself and me.

"Uh-huh," they nodded.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," said some random voice, and I turned to see a guy with long brown hair. A black-haired ninja girl nodded in agreement.

"Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel!" Goofy commented.

"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi," Sora commented, leaning his head down.

"Or Broderick," I added, giving out a frown of my own.

"Of course," Donald commented. He and Goofy exchanged a few whispers, which made me a bit suspicious.

"Sora, umm…other girl, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends," said the brown-haired guy.

"Yeah, I guess…" Sora looked sort of depressed, which was the weirdest thing I'd seen all day, and that includes talking animals.

I guess I must've looked pretty sad, too, because Donald kept looking between us. "You guys can't come along looking like that, understand? No frowning. No sad face, OK?"

"Yeah," Goofy agreed, invading Donald's personal space. "You gotta look funny, like us!"

"I don't think that's how he meant it, Goofy," I commented, a smile flickering onto my face.

Donald pushed Goofy to the side. "This boat runs on happy faces!"

"Happy?" Sora asked. Then he looked up with the cheesiest grin I'd ever seen. There was a heartbeat of silence until, for the second time that day, I had collapsed laughing.

"Oh…my…gosh!" I panted out. "Sora, that's hilarious!"

Donald and Goofy were laughing, too. "That's one funny face!"

Sora shrugged. "OK, why not? I'll go with you guys." He looked at me for approval, and I nodded.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do," I commented. "All right, I'm in."

"Donald Duck," Donald commented, putting his hand in.

"Name's Goofy," Goofy grinned, doing the same.

"I'm Sora," Sora continued.

"Don't forget Lexi!" I piped up, completing the group with my hand.

"All for one, one for all," Goofy said, obviously pleased.

I snorted. "We're not exactly the three musketeers, but OK."

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

In a small, secluded room, a small green platform was laid out, and the four friends were shown talking about them. "Those little squirts took down that Heartless! Who would have thought it?" a smooth voice asked.

The next person in the circle spoke in some strange accent. "Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own."

"Why don't we turn him into a Heartless?" a scratchy, female voice asked before laughing hard. "That would settle things quick enough."

"And the brat's friends are the king's lackeys." another voice exclaimed. "Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them."

"You're no prize yourself," said another voice with a high laugh.

"Shut up!" the first voice yelled, showing a shining hook for a hand.

"Enough," said the final voice, and it had a ring of authority that caused everyone to look at her. "The Keyblades have chosen them. Will it be they who conquer the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow them? Either way, they might be quite useful…" the green witch starved hungrily at the platform. "And the girl…she is the protector. We could definitely use her."

* * *

"Not to bother anyone," I commented off-handedly, "but THIS HURTS!"

At the moment, we were all on the gummy ship that Donald and Goofy had apparently brought with them. Will the three of _them _got cushy chairs, I was stuck sitting on the floor and banging my head against the wall every time we bounced. _Not _the best experience. "Gawrsh, we're almost there!" Goofy exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

"Next time, one of you is sitting back here," I declared, glaring. Sora and Donald both rolled their eyes, so I glared harder.

"We're here!" Donald declared before turning to me. "All right, you first."

"_What?_" I asked, working to scramble away from his staff. "No way! No magi—"

Oh, that duck was going to _get _it!

I watched as my three companions (not really friends, because I didn't know them well enough) alighted softly upon the ground. Goofy, from his spot on the floor, looked around. "Uh, where's Lexi?"

"DONALD, I WILL KILL YOU!" I yelled from the type of my lungs. Unlike them, I'd been speeding towards the ground at at LEAST 95 mph, and was now hanging onto a ledge for dear life.

Donald opened his mouth to say something, but it was lost when a small white rabbit in a suit hopped by. "Oh, great," I muttered. "More talking animals."

"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" it yelled. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

They all nodded at each other before running after it. "HEY!" I yelled. "Thanks a lot, guys!" I took a deep breath before letting go and plunging downwards.

* * *

Six pages! That should satisfy some of you. Well, from the beginning to now I've been doing it the lazy way (AKA YOUTUBE!), but from now on I'm actually going to play the game so that I get the speech-bubble-things too. This story's going a bit faster than I thought it would, but it'll probably slow down within the next couple chapters.

**Thank you to:**

**Those who alerted this story:**

Edward Cullen's Girl

**Those who favorited this story:**

…I really hope this isn't some pattern we're developing…

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: Aw, come on! Not even a hint? Please?

Yay! Regular reviewer! I feel so accomplished…

Glad I did something unexpected…I think.

Pomegranata: Awesome! I have a fan. That is so cool that you're so much like Lexi! I think it would make any story more interesting to relate to the main character, don't you?


	5. Poker Face

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 5: Poker Face**

After colliding with the ground and—thank God—not being splattered into a Lexi pancake, I made my way through about fifty doors to find Sora, Donald, and Goofy all just standing there, doing nothing.

"If you were going to desert me, you could've at least done something productive," I commented, hands on hips. Sora motioned for me to come over. He was crouched down next to a doll-sized door.

"How did he get so small?" he questioned, head cocked.

"No," the doorknob replied, "you're simply too big."

We all jumped back. "It talks!" Donald yelled.

I rolled my eyes. "Brilliant, Holmes." He glared.

The thing yawned. "Must you be so loud? You woke me up."

"Good morning!" Goofy exclaimed, waving. I smiled. It was official—Goofy was awesome.

"Good night," the doorknob countered. "I need a bit more sleep."

"Wait!" Sora exclaimed, crouching lower onto the floor. "What do we have to do to grow small?"

"Why don't you try the bottle…over there?" it replied sleepily.

We turned to look, and suddenly a table just popped out of nowhere, two bottles—one red and one blue—appeared on it. "Well, isn't that convenient," I muttered. "Um, thanks." We stood and walked to the table.

"Which bottle?" Sora asked, head cocked.

I shrugged. "Beats me. Let's try…that one!" I pointed randomly at the red.

Sora stared at me. "Why that one?"

I grinned cockily. "Because there's a fifty percent chance that I'm right. Now, drink!"

Sora gulped the concoction down, setting it on the table just before the three of them shrunk. I sighed and turned to take my own sip, but there was one problem…

"SORA, YOU GLUTTON! You drank it all!"

"Sorry!" he called, but his voice sounding squeaky. I glared, which must've been very effective from our compared sizes because he flinched. I felt satisfied, and I sighed.

"All right, get in there," I sighed, sitting down.

Sora stared up curiously. "You…you're not coming?"

I shrugged. "Not like I'll be able to fit. I'll try and find another way in, OK?"

He nodded before jumping off the table and running to the doorknob. I surveyed the room. There wasn't much—a chimney, the weird 50 doors, a hole behind a bed…wait, what?

I shoved the bed aside and, leaning down, found that I could crawl through it. Suddenly, Sora and the gang ran up to me. "He won't wake up!" Sora complained. "We need another…way out…thanks for the hole!"

"You're welcome," I replied, and they all entered with me following. It was nice and dark, I noted. My hat almost fell off a few times.

When we finally reached the end of the tunnel (and the awkward silence that came with it), it had grown small enough that I couldn't fit through, but I could still see what was happening. The gang walked forward as a rabbit scampered up some stairs to a small pedestal. He tooted a trumpet. "Court is now in session!" he panted.

"I'm on trial?" asked a blonde girl with an English accent. "But why?"

Completely ignoring her, the rabbit wheezed onwards. "Her majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!"

I fat woman in black-and-red clothes that really didn't help her figure yelled. "This is the culprit," she called. "There's no doubt about it. And the reason is…because I say so, that's why!"

"Someone needs an attitude adjustment," I muttered, glaring through my hole.

"That is so unfair!" Alice voiced my thoughts.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" The Queen glared downwards at the girl.

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong! You may be queen, but that doesn't give you the right to be so…so mean!" Alice argued.

"When did we start rhyming, exactly?" I complained, but nobody paid any attention to me. What was this, let's-ignore-Lexi day?

"Silence!" the Queen yelled, blowing the girl's hair straight backwards. "You dare defy me?"

"Hey, guys, we should help her out," Sora commented, sounding worried for the girl. That's Sora—give, give, give. Except for potions, apparently.

"Well, I'm sort of stuck," I replied, "so count me out."

"And the—" Donald continued.

Goofy interrupted. "We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?"

"'Meddling'!" Donald corrected.

"Oh, yeah," Goofy chuckled. "And that's against the rules."

Sora looked truly distraught, and I honestly felt sorry for him. Our attention was dragged back to reality when the Queen cried, "The court finds the defendant…guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart…"

Sora gasped, looking up angrily. "Off with her head!"

"No! No! Oh, please!" the girl begged.

Meanwhile I was staring at the girl. "How in the world does she look anywhere close to a heartless?" I mused, but I was ignored yet again. Sigh.

"Hold it right there!" Sora yelled, running forward. Even I had to admit that he was brave, even if he was completely impulsive and stupid.

"Who are you?" the Queen replied, leaning over her railing. "How dare you interfere with my court?"

"Actually, lady, it's not much of a fair trial," I called. She barely glanced at me. Apparently, nobody wanted to appreciate me today. Gosh, I feel loved.

Sora turned to send me a silent message—_Be quiet while I explain—_before returning to the old lady. "Excuse me," he commented nervously, "but we know who the real culprit is."

"And it most definitely isn't her," I snorted, pointing.

"Uh-huh. It's the heartle—" Goofy covered his own mouth just in time, saving Donald the trouble.

"Anyway, she's not the one you're looking for," Sora continued, pointing towards the girl.

"That's nonsense," the Queen interrupted. "Have you any proof?"

Sora was stuck, and before we knew it, she was forced into a cage.

"Find me proof of Alice's innocence!" the Queen yelled. So that was her name.

Sora turned earnestly to me. "We'll be right back. Thing you can hold down the fort?"

I rolled my eyes. "What I was born for. If you don't come back with evidence, I will personally step on you."

I grinned to show him I was teasing before shooing him out. I sighed, trying to get comfortable in my confined space.

"Ma'am," a card soldier came to inform me, "we're going to need you to move out of the space, please."

I nodded before backing up, muttering to myself, "First the doorknob, now the cards. Inanimate objects love us today."

After traveling down the tunnel AGAIN, I squirmed out and popped onto the bed I had moved. I yawned and snuggled in—a nap sure seemed nice about now…

Then I remembered the weird dreams about Sora, and I sat straight up. I absolutely refuse to dream about that today! It would NOT be a good idea!

I sighed and, standing, I rubbed my eyes. I paced the room slowly, and suddenly, Sora popped out of a space. He grabbed some weird gift thing and then left without a second glance in my direction. I sighed and, figuring that it was about time that Sora had it all, started on my third trip through the dank tunnel. Not that I was complaining, but I was becoming slightly claustrophobic.

When I made it to the end, I noted that all of the hedges and such were gone, and there was this weird other structure with gears. While Sora, Donald, and Goofy fought off the demented cards, I curiously stuck my keyblade through, dropping it on the structure and making it completely collapsed. The cage that had held Alice earlier toppled downwards. Sora and the Queen both turned to look at it, but to everyone's surprise, Alice was gone!

Sora went off into the weird forest to look for her, and I sighed, slipping into the Bizarre Room. I hung out there for a couple minutes, and then Sora walked in. He jumped onto the table and said something that I couldn't hear from the distance. Then this weird type of Heartless—_Trickmaster, _my mind automatically labeled it—jumped onto the scene. It would've been very impressive if I was Sora's size and where he was, but from my point of view, it was sort of overdramatic considering the thing was only a little bigger than a Shadow.

Sora started to attack along with Goofy, Donald casting spells. I was about to go help when a voice in my head said, _Wait._

_What? _I asked, head slightly cocked. Yeah, yeah, so I was talking to a voice inside my head. You don't have to freak out about it.

_He won't get stronger if you do this for him. He has to learn to fight on his own. Help if he gets close to fainting._

I hesitated, but then followed the voice's advice and hang back. Actually, it made sense. I think Sora appreciated it—he wanted to do this on his own.

Donald was another story. "GET OVER HERE AND HELP!" he yelled in his normal state of 'angry'. I just shook my head. I think that helped his magic, because his next fire spell finished the thing off.

After another talk with that cat, drinking the blue bottle, and turning them big again, the duck stormed over to me, standing on his toes…flippers…whatever to reach my face. "WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP US?" he shouted.

I glared. "If I'd helped, you all wouldn't have improved! You only get better in strength or magic by fighting!"

"Yes, but YOU didn't gain any experience either!" Donald seethed.

"At regular size, beating that thing would've been like beating a Shadow," I snorted. "It wouldn't have done anything for any of us."

Donald scowled and walked away, Sora and Goofy trying to calm him down, but looking pretty unhappy at me, too. "By the way," I called, and they all turned to face me. My hands were in fists and my face was hard.

"Just because I'm traveling with you doesn't mean I want to help you," I declared. "I'm mostly with you all for convenience. If I find an easier way of traveling, then I'll just as much take that."

* * *

Donald wanted to leave me behind.

Actually, I sort of wanted to lock myself here forever, too. I felt like a guilty liar, mostly because that's what I was. I honestly liked Goofy and Sora. The only reason I said those things was because…well…actually, I don't know why. Probably my temper getting a hold of me.

Sora and Donald argued for at least half an hour over it. Why Sora would want me along, I had no clue. But I did apologize to Goofy.

We leaned uncomfortably against the wall as Donald and Sora bickered. I was staring at my feet. I knew what I needed to do, but I wasn't sure if I could.

"Goofy," I said softly, and I could tell his eyes were on me. I bit my lip. "I…I'm sorry about what I said. I don't know why I said it. I guess…Donald was just really getting to me."

I looked at Goofy's face and found that he was smiling. "That's OK. We all have our moments of temper, right?" I nodded, grinning. "But, uh, I don't think Donald will be quite as understanding as me."

"Yeah," I sighed, "I know." I pushed myself off the wall as the fight ended—I was going with them.

* * *

So…remember how I said I wasn't going to be doing the lazy thing from now on? Well, I lied. These next few chapters will be completely based off of the YouTube videos about this! Thank God for YouTube!

Man, Lexi's had a rough day. Honestly, I don't blame her for yelling like that.

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**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: Well, it was.

How about this. You give me a hint, and if I guess right you tell me. Deal?

Oh, I hate fics like those. I prefer twists that you've never seen coming.

Haven't you noticed? They are rude. XD

Pomegranata: Glad I've earned another regular. Roasted duck sounds delicious right now! Mmm…now I'm hungry. Well, glad you're enthusiastic.


	6. Survivor

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 6: Survivor**

We hadn't even left the room when the doorknob yawned again. I turned to it, irritated, before something strange happened.

You know that feeling you get when you know you're right? Like how you just look at something and you know what's supposed to happen? It's like seeing the future, only…present tense. I got that feeling when I looked at the jars again.

"Sora," I said quietly. He turned to me. "Go drink from the red jar again."

"What?" Sora asked, baffled.

"Just do it, OK?" I replied, rolling my eyes. Yeesh.

Sora blinked before shrugging, walking over to the jar, and looking inside. He jumped back with a yelp. "It refilled itself!" He stared at me. "How did you…?"

I shrugged. "Instinct? Just drink it."

Sora blinked again before taking a deep gulp and shrinking down. "OK, now what?" he asked in his squeaky voice, staring up at me. I was about to answer when the doorknob's drawn-out yawn caught our attention.

"What a racket," he complained. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep?"

He yawned again, but—get this—a silver-outlined keyblade formed inside his mouth. Sora's keyblade somehow dragged itself forward when a beam of light shot through it. I closed my eyes while something clicked into place. "It sounds like something's locked," I commented, frowning.

Sora nodded, drinking the potion, which ended up in a sort of gurgling sound. I held back a laugh before turning to the fifty doors that weren't really needed. I started to open them, but halfway through, one of them was locked. "Oh, geez!" I complained. "How will we get through now?"

And then, just like before, a new keyhole formed, but this one was formed out of darkness. This time, _my _keyblade shot forward and sealed it with dark, pulsing energy. Once again, there was a clicking sound, as if something had fallen into place.

"OK…that wasn't weird at all," I decided, and we continued to the ship. The ride to the next world was silent, other than the occasional creaking of the pipes. I dozed off for a while, but I woke up to Donald's yelling.

"In a backwater place like that? No way!" He exclaimed angrily.

"What's going on?" I groaned, opening my eyes and sitting up.

"SOMEONE'S being stubborn and refuses to land in this world!" Sora scowled, which was sort of out of character for him.

"What's the world?" I asked, standing and walking to the window. "Oh, yeah. Broderick would love it here."

"We're not landing there!" Donald screamed, slamming down a fist and accidentally hitting the 'DO NOT PRESS' button. The ship shuddered before bucking us off.

"Why do you all even HAVE that button?" I yelled as we fell. I was, as usual, ignored.

_"Whoa!" I yelled, crashing through the roof of an old shack. "Oww…my head…" I complained lightly after sitting up. "Donald? Goofy? Lexi?" All of a sudden, a jaguar ran out, completely taking me by surprise._

_After trying to fight it for a few minutes, I collapsed on the ground. I shakily held my keyblade up in a last attempt to defend myself. Suddenly, a man with brown dreadlocks and only wearing a loincloth was done there, fighting the animal off with a spear. He turned to me. "Sabor, danger," he explained._

_"Um…" remembering my manners, I replied "thank you."_

_"Thank you," the man repeated._

_"Huh?" I asked. "Uh, what is this place?"_

_"This place, this place," the man continued, as if that explained everything. My eyebrows rose._

_"Okaaay…where did the others go? Look, I got separated from my friends. Have you seen them?" I asked, hoping he would understand._

_"Hmm?" Apparently not._

_"Friends," I said slowly._

_"Friends!" he agreed, finally getting it._

_"Right, my friends!" I replied cheerfully. "There's three of 'em. The loud one's Dona—" I stopped myself. What was I doing? I wasn't here for Donald or Goofy! I was searching for my friends from the island! And Lexi…she said it all herself. We aren't friends, we're just people she travels with._

_"You know what? Never mind," I commented. "I'm looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi."_

_"Wake up," the man suddenly said._

_"What?" I replied groggily._

"I SAID, wake up!" Donald yelled back.

I groaned, sitting up. "All right, all right, I'm awake." I stretched lightly before taking in my surroundings—a clearing in what looked like a jungle, a giant rock in the middle, which we were sitting on.

"Oh, no" I groaned. "This is just like that one TV show—what's it called? LOST?"

"What?" Goofy asked, head cocked.

I frowned shaking my head. "No, no, no. What is it? It starts with an s…Survivor! That's it!" I smiled, feeling pleased with myself. My animal friends, however, looked pretty weirded out.

"I sure hope Sora's OK," Goofy frowned, looking into space.

"Aw, who needs him? We can find the King without him!" Donald replied angrily.

My eyebrows rose."Really, Donald? Because of one fight? Open your eyes."

Donald stared at me, furious. "We don't need _you, _either! Huh?" He looked down to find a gorilla. They both stared a moment before screaming.

I rolled my eyes. "Idiot," I muttered as the ape pranced away. In his place, there was this weird piece…sort of funny, actually…

The trees rustled, and suddenly an aging man came, pointing his gun straight at me.

* * *

From the outside of the tent, I could clearly hear what was happening. "Are you here to study the gorillas?" a pleasant female voice asked.

"Highly doubtful," our captor interrupted. Donald, Goofy, and I walked in the tent behind him. The look on Sora's face was completely worth Donald's grumbles.

"Sora!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Goofy! Donald!" Sora exclaimed, running forwards. He and Donald both looked excited for a moment before remembering that they were supposed to be angry and turning away.

"Do I get no love?" I complained, and Sora grinned in my direction.

"Hi, Lexi," he said.

"Thank you," I replied, grinning back.

"A circus of clowns," the guy snorted. "Not much use for hunting gorillas."

"Mr. Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them!" the woman complained. "This is research." She turned to us again, smiling. "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."

"Well, anyway…" Sora started.

"I'm staying!" he and Donald finished simultaneously. "Huh?" Sora asked, his surprise pretty much erasing his temper.

"Sora, look what we found," Goofy explained. I wasn't really paying attention after that, because just then I noticed someone walking outside that I was not expecting to see.

Anthony Walker, my crush since first grade, was walking outside of our tent.

He looked exactly like I remembered him—hair so brown it was almost black flopping into his eyes, which were a very nice hazel color and sparkling with energy. He was in his standard outfit of black jeans and a camouflage t-shirt, along with Nikes. He looked exactly like a model, only a million times better. He smirked at me before walking away. Unconsciously, I took a step forward to follow him.

"Uh…Lexi?" Sora asked, placing a hand on my shoulder and shocking me back into reality. I blinked, staring at the place that Anthony had just left. "We need to go find the slides."

"Slides," I muttered. "Yeah. OK. Slides."

I must've really been freaking him out by the look on his face, but I walked out before he could say anything. We gathered all the slides and looked at them in the woman's tent.

"Well, Tarzan?" she asked, turning to him.

"Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora pleaded.

"And Broderick , Anna, and Anthony?" I added. Sora gave me a weird look, which I didn't really understand. I mean, I'd talked about Anna all the time on the islands.

"Who's Anthony?" he asked, head cocked. Oh, so that was it.

"Later," I replied, returning to Tarzan. "Where are they?" Hey just shook his head.

"Hey," Sora protested, "I thought—"

"That leaves just one place," Clayton interrupted him. "Children, we've been in this jungle for some time now. But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas, but Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

"Really, Mr. Clayton," the woman protested. "Tarzan wouldn't hide—"

"Then take us there!" Clayton interrupted. Again. This guy doesn't have much patience. "Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las."

Tarzan looked us for a moment before nodding.

"Tarzan…are you sure?" the woman asked uncertainly.

"Tarzan go see Kerchak," Tarzan replied.

"Kerchak?" she replied, head cocked.

"He must be the leader," Clayton replied. "Perfect. I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."

I didn't like the way he grinned after saying that.

Pretty soon, we were all at this weird jungular (or however you want to say 'jungle-y') place, two gorillas perched on an above branch. Tarzan was speaking to the apes in their language, which sounded like a bunch of gibberish to me, but apparently we couldn't go. The larger ape—who I guessed was Kerchak—was staring at the tree house before he left, which I took as a sign that we should go there. And we did, after a few minutes of persuading.

When we ran in, we found Clayton pointing his gun at a gorilla. "WAAAAH! WAAAAAH!" Donald yelled, sending his aim completely off. Sometimes his crazily annoying voice is useful. "What's the big idea?" Donald asked as Tarzan made his way to Kerchak.

"You don't understand," Clayton protested. "I was only trying to—"

"Kill a gorilla," I snorted. "Yeah, we noticed." A strange fact about me—I can't stand people mistreating animals. I hate when people hunt for fun, I hate when they poach—it's gone so far that I'm now a vegetarian. I just can't sound the thought of those poor things suffering and dying.

Clayton shook his head before coming up with an excuse. "Ah. A snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life."

Tarzan sighed, shaking his head, and we made our way back to the tent, feeling slightly dejected.

* * *

"How could you do such a thing!"

It felt nice to watch Jane yell at Clayton, but I wanted to help. "You could've actually killed it if we hadn't stopped you! Explain how, MR. Clayton, that counts as researching, please!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Now I felt better.

"Now, now," Clayton continued to deny, "I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla."

"You are not to go near the gorillas again!" Jane interrupted, which I normally would've thought was rude, but today felt quite satisfying.

"All because of one mishap?" Clayton laughed. "Come, now…"

He looked at all our faces—Sora's defiant expression, Tarzan's outright glare, Goofy's unnatural stare (because, come on. I don't think Goofy's ever glared before in his life), Donald's deepened scowl, and Jane's angry look. Finally, he saw me, and this one time my glare was so fierce that he was forced to look away.

Clayton nervously chuckled his way out of the tent, and I collapsed onto a pile of boxes. Sora sat next to me, and Goofy and Donald talked on their own. We sat in comfortable silence for a while.

"Hey, Sora?" I finally broke the silence with.

"Yeah?" he replied, looking at me.

I stared at my feet. "I…I'm sorry for what I said in Wonderland. I was just disappointed that I didn't get to have an adventure, and Donald was yelling at me, and…"

"It's OK," Sora interrupted, and I looked up to find him smiling.

I grinned, but complained, "Everyone's always interrupting me!" He laughed and I punched his shoulder playfully. "But seriously. You're my friend, Sora."

"No fighting will ever change that," Sora vowed.

I thought for a moment. "Do we need to swear on that, or what?"

Sora opened his mouth to say something, but it was lost when a gunshot was heard. "CLAYTON!" I yelled angrily, jumping to my feet and rushing out. My friends came after me, but I was already at the spot Clayton was at. His gun was pointing straight at an innocent gorilla. "NO!" I yelled, pushing his gun out of the way. I didn't know what Sora and the others were doing, but at that moment I didn't really care.

_It isn't Clayton._

There it was again—that voice in my head. I shook it off and started to fight Clayton.

For a while, it was actually pretty easy—he spent so much time on his battle cry that he left himself defenseless, which I took complete advantage of. After a while though, he raised his hand, and a wall crashed down. One of the flying chunks hit my head, and I was thrown back a few feet. I jumped back up, shook some blackness out of my vision, and ran forward to attack whatever invisible thing he was riding on.

I don't think I could've done it without something to egg me on. Luckily, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Tarzan showed up about halfway through. I heard them talking, but when I yelled "HEY! GIVE ME A HAND HERE!", nothing happened. I was so angry that my next slash finished the battle. Clayton stumbled backward, but he had enough strength to lift the gun up. He pointed it at me, and I took a step back, scared. He cocked his gun, and…BANG!

The good news: The giant lizard had collapsed on him. The bad news: I was shot in the shoulder.

I really wished that Donald knew cure. It would've made everything a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, not only did he not know cure, potions would only heal heartless wounds, not bullets. And blood does _not _feel very good—more like very sticky.

I collapsed onto the ground, and Sora rushed to me, helping me stand. "Why…didn't…you…help?" I panted.

Sora looked worried, and Goofy came to support my other side, because I was sort of just dragging along. The pain was so bad that was pretty much all I could do. "We wanted to give you payback for Trickmaster. Come on, let's get you to Jane."

"Who's Jane?" I asked sleepily.

"The woman who was helping us." Sora's voice swam in and out of my hearing.

We walked for what felt like eternity, and I knew that we were in the tent when I heard a gasp. "Oh, dear! Set her down here…yes, be careful with her…"

I felt someone prod my wound, and I convulsed. It hurt so badly that I almost cried. "Oh, my. This is very close to her heart. I…I'm not sure that she'll make it."

Suddenly, the pain stopped, and I sighed, straightening my back so that I was lying flat. "You need to go back to the clearing," I heard Jane say. "The gorillas may want to thank you."

I blacked out a couple of times after that, but every time I woke up I was in pain, so I definitely preferred black. When I finally came to for real, my eyelids felt like they were stuck closed.

"Is she dead?" I heard Donald ask.

Jane sounded worried. "If she doesn't wake up in the next few minutes, then I'd say so. I'm not the best nurse."

I forced my eyes open to find everyone crowded around me on a cot. Even Donald looked sort of concerned. I groaned.

"Lexi?" Sora asked anxiously. "Are you OK? Come on, Lexi. You just apologized—you can't die now."

"I feel like such an idiot," I complained, sitting up. I was unhappy to find that I'd been stripped of my hat and sunglasses.

"Why?" Goofy asked, head cocked.

I sighed in self-frustration. "I was shot. Normally, the hero doesn't get shot until their adventure is almost over, and even then they find some way to make it through. I feel so useless." I rolled my shoulder, wincing. "Even worse, it's my right arm. That's the arm that I fight with. I won't be as good in battle until it heals." I turned to Jane. "How long will that be?"

"A few months, at the least," Jane replied, frowning.

"WHAT?" Sora had to cover his ears, and Tarzan winced. "I am NOT staying like this for a few months!"

"Well…" Jane sighed. "Take it easy, at the least."

I hesitated before nodding and sighing. "I hate this," I muttered.

Donald opened his mouth to say something, but it was lost when a dark keyhole shown at my shoulder bandage—just like in Wonderland. I pointed the blade, and some darkness was thrown into the hole. It sealed with a click.

I sighed, hoisting myself up. "On to the next world!" I declared before collapsing. "This really is like Survivor," I muttered before Goofy stood me up and helped me walk towards our ship.

_

* * *

_

Meanwhile…

"What drew the Heartless to that world?" a voice questioned.

"The hunter lured them there," the witch replied. "It was his lust for power that was the bait. But it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good."

A cruel voice laughed. "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"

"A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless," commented the original interrogator, dressed in what looked like a sultan's outfit and carrying a snake staff. "But the children are problems. They have found some of the Keyholes."

"Fear not," the witch replied carelessly. "It will take them ages to find the rest. Besides, they remain blissfully unaware of our other plans."

"Yes, the Princesses," a new voice commented.

"They are falling into our hands, one by one," the witch said and, with a sweeping motion of her hand, revealed a very frightened Alice.

* * *

Another chapter brought to you by our sponsor, YouTube! Give them a hand, folks! (Well…not really sponsor. More like helper.)

I'm not sure, but I've had huge inspiration to update this today. So this is what I cranked out. Hope it's not too overdramatic for you guys, but the injury is used later.

**Thank you to:**

**People who favorited this story:**

BehindBeautifulEyes

Keyblade's Girl

mysteriousguy898

**People who alerted this story:**

AUGGH! Not this again!

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: It almost did. I was about to post when I checked again, and someone had alerted it last-second. It was awesome.

Uh…another hint, please? (Wait a second. Shouldn't you be asking me for hints?)

They will influence some of Lexi's decisions. Not much said on that.

Funny is my middle name!

P.S. Thank you!

Pomegranata: Well, of course I'm going for variety here. Actually, she's going to end up in Port Royale…SHH! Don't tell anyone! I just showed a spoiler!

BehindBeautifulEyes: I try my hardest to stick to canon! XD

Why, thank you. I'm glad you like it!

mysteriousguy898: Thanks! That means a lot!


	7. Old Friends

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 7: Old Friends**

When we walked into the next world, everything was yellow.

I pulled my hat further down my face to hide the flames. "Let's get this over with," I sighed, getting a strange look from Sora.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Looking at him, I realized he still didn't know about my fear of light.

"Just my shoulder," I lied. Sure, I could've told him, but would you have?

We walked into a lobby which was, of course, yellow. The first thing that I saw was this weird goat guy who was short and hairy. "Um…" Sora started.

"Good timing," the guy replied. "Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games." I looked at where he was pointing to find a giant rock that looked very un-movable.

"You're not really going to try that, are you?" I asked Sora doubtfully.

Sora shrugged. "Might as well." After walking over to it, he took a deep breath and pushed. It didn't move. "You could help," he suggested, staring up at me.

"Me?" I acted surprised, but a grin broke through. "I'm sorry, but I've got a shoulder injury."

He groaned, pushed for a little longer, and then collapsed. Rolling my eyes, I took his arm and literally dragged him to the weird guy. "Expecting us to move that thing is like expecting you to be tall," I pointed out to him.

"What?" he asked. "Why you little—" he turned around. "Oh. Wrong guy. What are you doing here?"

Sora stood, shaking my hand off. "You sure you can stand?" I smirked.

He rolled his eyes. "I think I'll manage," he replied before turning to the goat.

In the meantime, it…he…whatever you call it(or he. AUGH!) had jumped off of his spot. "This here's the world famous Coliseum—heroes only!"

"What do you think we are?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

He surveyed me. "Say, that's a bad injury. How'd you get it?"

I turned red. "None of your business!" I yelled. Nope. Not showing weakness.

He turned back to the others. "I've got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks."

Sora had that look on his face—the one that says 'Who do you think you are?' that you only see when he's angry. Ah, this'll be fun.

Goat-guy put his hands on his hips. "Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

Donald crossed his arms. "Like Lexi said, you've got heroes standing right in front of you!"

I punched the air. "Yes! For once, I am not ignored! YESSS!"

I was ignored. Of course.

Goofy put his hands on mine and Sora's shoulders. "Yup. They're real heroes, chosen by the Keyblade!"

"And we're heroes, too!" Donald said proudly. I couldn't hold back my snort, and I got a glare in return.

"Heroes? These runts?" the guy asked. Then he laughed his head off.

"Look who's talking, short stuff," I snapped. I'm only about 5'0, and I'm a little sensitive about my height. Luckily, that's Sora's height too, so I'm not left out.

"We've fought a bunch of monsters!" Sora exclaimed. The guy stopped laughing.

"Hey," he replied, still giggling a little. "If you can't even move this…" he started to push the pedestal. "You can't call yourself…" he turned around, trying that way. Sora looked at him with a smirk. "Heroes!" He collapsed, to my amusement.

"Yeah. Sure," Sora snorted.

"I taught you well," I whispered.

He grinned back. "That you did."

"Okay, so it takes more than brawn," the guy admitted. "Well, well, let's see what you can do."

After that, he put us through a bunch of timed tests where we had to destroy barrels, which seemed sort of pointless to me. By the end of it, my shoulder was aching, so I decided to relax for the rest of the day. We learned that the guy was Phil in this process and that…well…he fails at math. I conned about 20 extra seconds out of him.

"You know, you ain't bad, kid," Phil said once we were back in the lobby.

"Looks like I'm headed for the games!" Sora grinned, hands behind his head. I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling.

"Afraid not," Phil replied.

"Why not?" Sora immediately asked, leaning in.

"Two words," Phil replied. "You guys ain't heroes!"

I slapped my forehead. "That's four words," I commented. I noticed that Goofy was still counting on his fingers.

You know, I really, really love Goofy.

"Come on!" Sora protested.

We walked into the courtyard that we'd entered through. "Well, that was a complete waste," I commented regretfully…until I looked into the corner to find a girl with brown hair and blue eyes…

"ANNA?" I yelled, rushing forward. And it actually was Anna, with her trademark brown braid, purple shirt, flip-flops, and jeans. She looked up at my, eyes wide, before tackling me into a hug.

"Lexi!" She sobbed into my shirt. "I've been lost! I was with Anthony, and then it all went dark, and…and…where have you been!"

"I'll tell you soon," I promised. "Come on, there's some people I want you to meet. Seriously, Anna, what happened? You're not yourself."

She took a deep breath and stood. "I'm fine," she replied shakily. "Where are the people?"

I dragged her to the middle of the courtyard to my friends and…a puff of smoke? "What happened here?" I asked, gesturing to it.

Sora shook his head. "Some guy gave us this," he replied, handing me a card. It was a pass. "Who's this?" he asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Guys, this is Anna," I said, gesturing. "Anna, this is Sora, Donald, and Goofy, my friends who ignore me on a daily basis."

"Pleased to meet you," Anna grinned, and I noticed that her eyes had returned to their natural, sparkling state. "Now, tell me. How did you convince Lexi to travel with you?"

The three of them exchanged looks. "Convenience," Donald finally said, glaring at me. My heart sank when I remembered my freak-out at Wonderland. Was he not going to let that go?

"But anyways, it's nice meeting you," Sora commented before turning to me. "Hey, you never told me. Who's Anthony?"

I felt my cheeks flush. "He's…um…he…well…"

Anna rolled her eyes. "He's my cousin who Lexi's been crushing on forever," she said helpfully.

"Anna!" I yelled, and I could feel myself get redder. "I have not!"

She laughed and danced out of my keyblade's reach. "Yes you have!" she teased, running when I started after her. I'm sure we looked like idiots to Sora and them, but I was having so much fun that I didn't really care.

When I finally gave up and we both laughed, panting, Sora walked over. I stood. "Let's go enter the games," he smiled.

I nodded in reply. "Yeah." We walked back into the lobby, Anna and I chatting animatedly. I had brought her up to date on most of what had happened when we reached Phil. Reluctantly, he let us enter, and we walked back outside. "Once again, pointless," I commented before whispering "See what I mean about them ignoring me? It's like I'm not here."

She nodded sympathetically, and then we all stopped in our tracks. A blonde guy with a _very _warm-looking outfit walked past us, giving us a look that wasn't very friendly.

"You know what?" I asked, looking at Sora.

"What?" he replied, looking back.

"I don't think I'm going to enter the games." I chose my words carefully. "My shoulder will stop me from being any real help, and I don't want Anna to disappear on us."

Sora looked at me uncertainly. "Well…OK. Will you watch?"

"Of course," I snorted. He grinned, and we walked into the arena. Anna and I took a seat on the bleachers while the three of them started to fight.

Actually, it went pretty well until they reached the blonde guy from earlier. He was really strong, and I don't think that I could've beaten him, much less Donald and Goofy—because, no offense to them, they're not the best fighters. I was surprised that Sora held out as long as he did. In the end, they were all creamed…and then I felt something wet on my shoulder.

I tried to brush it off, but not only was it wet, it was sticky. And when I turned around…there was a giant three-headed dog.

I'd like to say that I fought it. I wish I could tell you that I bravely drew my keyblade and fended it off. But then I'd be lying, because I actually screamed and ran.

When Anna and everyone finally caught up with me, I was in the lobby and seriously considering burning my shirt. "Gross! Dog slobber," I complained, wiping the goo off of my hands and onto my jeans, which didn't really help.

"Can he handle that?" Sora asked, motioning outside to where some guy had decided to save our sorry butts.

Phil nodded. "Yeah, Herc should be able to…or not…this doesn't look good. Uh-oh."

"We have to help him!" Sora exclaimed.

"Whoa, slow down," I replied, putting a hand on Sora's shoulder. "If he can't take that thing, then we definitely can't."

"Well, we have to help him!" Sora yelled, shoving my hand off and running out.

I sighed, looking at Anna as Donald and Goofy followed him. "Let's go save your boyfriend," Anna suggested.

I turned red. "What are you—?"

She giggled and flounced out, me running after her. "Kids, I got two words of advice for you: ATTACK!" Phil called.

"THAT IS ONE WORD," I yelled, stabbing at one of the heads and narrowly dodging more slobber. I felt a little pathetic because Sora had already taken out his first head.

"Leave some for me!" I commented after he took out his second. He rolled his eyes but let me do my head on my own. After about five minutes, the entire dog collapsed and my shoulder was practically burning. Sora had to drag me back into the lobby, where I hopped onto the pedestal and Herc redressed my wound. When he took the old bandages off, he threw over his shoulder, and then…they were gone.

Everybody leaned in to stare. "Where…?" Anna questioned.

"Probably back to Deep Jungle," I decided. "It was the dark keyhole." They nodded. "Thanks," I told Herc, hopping off. Phil hopped on, took an official looking paper, and cleared his throat.

He went into this long rant which I zoned out of, thinking about Anna instead. If we'd found her, then Anthony couldn't be far, right? He couldn't be!

"And thus," Phil finally concluded, "I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further—"

"Hey!" Donald interrupted. "What do you mean 'junior heroes'?"

"You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero!" Phil argued.

"So what does it take?" Goofy asked modestly.

"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves," Herc replied. "Just the way that I did."

"No problem," Sora replied confidently. "We'll start by proving ourselves in the games!"

"There ain't gonna be any games for a while," Phil said. "Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first."

"Okay, we'll be back," Sora replied, waving as we walked out.

"Anna won't," I volunteered.

"What?" she protested. "Why not?"

I rolled my eyes. "We're dropping you off at Traverse Town," I told her. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you're stronger. Anna, you don't even have a weapon. You'd be safe there."

Anna was frowning. "But…I want to help!"

"That's the only way you can help," I joked. "You'd just get in the way with us."

She made a face. "Thanks a lot!" We laughed it off as we walked outside, but then the blonde guy from earlier walked through and spoke to Sora. Of course, I couldn't hear a thing. I walked up to them.

"I'm searching, too," Sora was saying.

"For your light?" the guy replied. "Don't lose sight of it." He dropped this thing into Sora's hand, but I couldn't tell what it was. He started to walk away.

"How about a rematch some time?" Sora called, making him stop. "Fair and square, no dark powers at all."

The guy smirked and flicked at his bangs, which did absolutely nothing. "I think he'll pass," he replied, continuing his walk.

I turned to go towards our ship, but stopped when I saw Anna gaping. "Something wrong?" I asked, snapping her out of it.

She turned to me. "Is it just me, or is that guy hot?"

I smiled, shaking my head. "Let's go, boy-crazy."

"Hey!" she protested, but I was already at the doors, laughing.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

"He's strong, he's kind. He's always there for you, and he's handsome to boot!" the blue man said, sounding angry. "He's perfect. Perfect. Perfectly infuriating! He's driving me crazy." The man turned red and burst into a column of flame. "What a minute. What are you worried about?" he asked himself, returning to his original color. "All the pieces are in place. Relax. Here's what you do. Let Hercules train the kid. In the next games, I'll take care of them both."

He turned, glaring out of the corner of his eyes. "Who invited you to the party? Stay out of this. This is my show."

"As you wish," the green witch replied. "Fight to your heart's content. But I must complement on avoiding the protector."

"It was nothing," the man replied, but the woman had already left.

* * *

Happy Luxord Day! And what a special Luxord Day it is. 10/10/10. Must admit, that's awesome.

My family went to see Sweeney Todd a few days ago. Guess what? I'm scarred for life.

Enough of my rambling, let's get on with it!

**Thank you to:**

**People who favorited this story:**

Luthien Eriol

**People who alerted this story:**

…

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: Wow. Actually…that's an awesome guess. But it's not it. If you pay attention next chapter, it (hint, hint) has something to do with the dark keyholes. And yes, I do like pie, for it is awesome.

Drama is my specialty.

YouTube has been my guide so far, and will probably be for a while. So…yeah. Keep clapping!

Pomegranata: You do always say that. Ending reviews is very hard, isn't it? Good luck! …um, awkward ending…

BehindBeautifulEyes: Overdramatic things are fun to read, aren't they? I'm glad for another regular!

mysteriousguy898: I can tell you right now that that has nothing to do with the voice…but that would be cool, right?

Luthien Eriol: Well…Lexi's luck isn't the best.

Sort of. She will be taken to the KH2 world in this story, but it'll have its own plotline (that becomes important if I ever do a sequel!).


	8. See You Again

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 8: See You Again**

_I watched as Lexi breathed peacefully. If she was awake, she'd probably be yelling how unfair it was that Anna got a seat when she never did, but luckily she'd fallen asleep within five seconds of boarding. I wondered how she could sleep, because it had to be uncomfortable with that hat and the sunglasses…_

_"You like Lexi," I heard a voice chant, and I turned to see Anna, Lexi's pretty friend._

_"What?" I asked, frowning._

_She shrugged. "Just what I said. Lexi's sort of clueless, and I don't think she knows. And I think that you are in denial." She smiled._

_I gaped openly. "What—wha—?"_

_She shrugged again. "Just saying." She turned back to the front._

_I thought for a while. I didn't like Lexi—of course not! The universe didn't work that way. Riku and Lexi would always be together, and Kairi would, someday, fall in love with me. That was how it happened. Anything else would upset the balance._

_Like that Anthony kid. I frowned just thinking about him. He could seriously upset the relationship that Lexi and Riku had. I didn't care that he and Lexi had known each other longer, Lexi was not supposed to be with him!_

_Suddenly, she stirred. I looked at her—she was so peaceful while she was sleeping. But she was frowning. "Anthony…" she muttered, and my heart sank. I hoped that she was having a good dream…_

"Lexi, wake up!" I groaned, shaking myself awake.

"Five more minutes," I muttered sleepily, and Anna laughed.

"Get up, you lazy bum," she snorted. "We're here."

I blinked a few times to let my eyes adjust, and when I did I noticed something. "Why do YOU get a chair when I never do? WHY?" She laughed.

"Because I'm awesome," she joked. "Now come on."

I looked beside me to find Sora. So he'd given up his seat for her. That was…nice, I guess. I grimaced and stood, brushing off my pants.

We all teleported to the new world and started wandering around, searching for Aerith so that we could drop Anna off and go. I can't remember how, but we made our way into this big, damp cave.

"There's something about this place…" I whirled around to find, to my surprise, Anthony. "It sort of reminds me of your room. Nothing can live in it." He grinned and walked up to me. "My room, too, right?"

I was just staring in awe. He chuckled. "Are you going to stand there like an idiot, or talk?"

I rolled my eyes. "Idiot," I muttered before smiling. "Anthony."

"Kairi?" I heard Sora ask beside me, reaching out. I looked, but I didn't see her. I turned back to Anthony, and he was giving me his famous smirk.

"Sora?" Goofy asked.

"Lexi?" Anna questioned.

We both turned around, and there was a huge grin on my face. "Anna! I saw Anthony!"

"Where?" Anna asked, head cocked. "Lexi, there's nobody here."

"No!" I protested. "He's right—" turning around, I was surprised because Anthony…well, he disappeared.

Sora was having a similar problem. "Where'd she go?" he asked, looking around. I blinked.

"I guess that he's gone," I muttered before turning around and walking to my friends. "Come on, Sora," I called, disappointed.

We wandered into the Second District, hoping that maybe we'd find Aerith there, but we were only met with a couple of Soldier Heartless. I sighed, taking them out quickly. But then more appeared, and before we had time to fight them off, someone familiar slashed them away…with a little help.

"Broderick!" I yelled, running forward and slamming into my brother.

He looked startled, but he smiled, and his weird heart-shaped blade disappeared. "Hey, Lexi. Miss me?"

"You had me worried sick!" I complained, backing up. "What's wrong with you? Are you OK?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, head cocked.

I hesitated. It was like he'd completely forgotten the whole amber-eyed incident. I decided to just let it go. "Where have you been?" I frowned.

He shrugged, but was interrupted. "Don't I get a hello?" Riku asked, frowning.

I grinned and glomped Riku. "Whoa! Hey! I wanted you to hug me, not kill me!" he exclaimed, startled.

I grinned. "You idiot! You made me worry about you! Never do that again!"

"OK, OK!" he replied, panting. "Just get off!"

Laughing, I did. "This is Anna," I introduced. She was staring at Riku, who was staring right back at her. "She's the friend I kept telling you about."

Riku and her nodded simultaneously. "So…what's going on?" Riku asked. Grinning, Sora pulled on his face. "Hey, hey, cut it out!" Riku commented, motioning.

"I'm not dreaming this time…right?" Sora asked hopefully. I rolled my eyes.

"This would be one weird dream," I cut in.

"Took forever to find you," Riku commented, flicking his hair like that blonde guy. If possible, Anna stared harder.

"Riku!" Sora grinned. Then, as we walked, he started to frown. "Wait a second. Where's Kairi?"

"Isn't she with you?" Riku replied, frowning back. Sora looked down, depressed. "Well, don't worry," Riku reassured him. "I'm sure she made it off the island, too."

"Yeah, Sora," I encouraged. "Just because you can't find your way out of a cardboard box doesn't mean that Kairi can't."

Sora stuck his tongue out at me while everyone laughed. "Hey, she might even be looking for us now," Riku commented. "We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this—"

I got the feeling that what he'd been about to say would've been important, but a Shadow was behind him, so Sora and I sort of had to slash it. "Leave it all to who?" Sora grinned. I don't think he's ever come in first before with Riku.

Riku sounded very confused. "Sora, Lexi, what did you—"

"We've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help," Sora replied, motioning.

"And Broderick, Anna, and Anthony," I added.

"Thank you for not leaving me out," Broderick grinned.

I made a face. "Once in a lifetime deal, buddy."

Riku was looking at me. "Who's Anthony?"

Just like with Sora, I was blushing. "Well…he—"

"He's her friend," I heard Sora cut in, and I was surprised to hear that he sounded unhappy. Angry, even. I glanced at him, but his face was unreadable.

"Well…yeah." I continued blushing. "We haven't found him yet, but we did find Anna and you guys! That counts for something, right?"

I must've sounded pretty desperate, because Riku's face softened. "Yeah," he nodded. "Now, who are they?"

"Bob and George," I replied, getting some pretty strange looks. "What?" I asked defensively.

Rolling his eyes, Donald replied, "Ahem. My name is—"

"We've visited so many places and worlds looking for you," Sora interrupted. Donald scowled, and I laughed.

"Really?" Riku replied. "Well, what do you know? I never would've guessed."

"Oh, and guess what?" Goofy commented. "Sora and Lexi are Keyblade masters!"

"Who would've thought it?" Donald asked angrily. I rolled my eyes at him.

"What's that mean?" Sora argued.

"It means that Donald's being an idiot again," I replied.

"Hey!" Donald protested.

"So, this is called a Keyblade?" Riku asked, holding up Sora's Keyblade.

I stared, awed. "How did you—?"

"Hey, give it back!" Sora complained. He reached forward trying to grab it, but he ended up falling down. Riku held the blade up.

"Give it, Riku!" I yelled.

"Catch," Riku replied, throwing it to Sora, who stumbled to catch. I noticed that Riku's voice sounded sort of hollow.

Broderick frowned. "Riku, how did you-?"

Riku shrugged unemotionally. "So, you guys are coming with us now, right?" I asked.

"We've got this awesome rocket," Sora commented, good cheer returned. "Wait 'til you see it!"

"No, they can't come!" Donald argued.

"What?" Sora protested.

"Forget it!" he replied.

"We let Anna travel with us," I pointed out, getting involved in the argument.

"That was temporary!" Donald replied. "They can't come!"

"Oh, come on! They're our friends!" Sora exclaimed.

"I don't care," Donald replied.

"They're gone!" Goofy interrupted suddenly.

I looked up to find that they really were gone. Then I got very, very mad. "THAT WAS MY BROTHER!" I yelled in Donald's face. "THAT MIGHT'VE BEEN MY ONLY CHANCE TO SEE HIM, YOU STUPID DUCK!"

"TOO BAD!" Donald yelled back. "WE DIDN'T HAVE ROOM AND THEY WOULD'VE HELD US BACK!"

"I HATE YOU!" I screamed, turning around and running. He was my brother, no matter how annoying he was! I'd wanted to see him, and now I may never see him again.

"Lexi."

"Go away, Anna," I muttered sullenly, slowing down anyway.

"Lexi, don't get mad," Anna said softly. "Every time things don't go your way, you get angry. Show another emotion for once, please—be sad, be anxious, be something else!"

I stared at her for a moment, shocked, stopping completely. "I'm sorry that I can't control what I'm feeling," I said slowly.

She sighed. "That's not how I meant it. What I mean is, whenever you're feeling anything that isn't happy—scared, sad, or even disgusted—you cover it up with anger. Show your real feelings, Lexi. Please?"

I blinked. "I am feeling angry. I'm angry at Donald for not letting us bring Broderick and Riku along. I'm angry at myself for not convincing them to come along. And I'm angry at the whole universe for being so unfair!"

"Lexi," she sounded sad. She spread her arms wide. "Come give me a hug."

And I did. I figured out that was exactly what I needed—a hug. I hugged her, and I think that I became a little less angry.

"Thanks," I said softly, pulling away.

"Lexi? Anna?" I heard Sora pant. "You guys are way too fast!" he stopped to catch his breath.

I grinned. "Nah. You're just too slow." Not long after, Goofy and Donald showed up. Donald and I glared daggers at each other before reluctantly walking together. I kept Anna between us at all times.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

"You see?" the witch asked. "It's just as I told you. While you two toiled away trying to find your dear friends, they quite simply replaced you with some new companions."

Broderick watched as Lexi and the duck yelled at each other. "Not the best of friends," he commented doubtfully. Riku was not so certain.

"Evidently, now he values them far more than you," the witch continued. "You're better off without that wretched boy. But I can help you win that girl's heart…" she smiled evilly.

Broderick frowned. "You're after Lexi's heart? But that would—"

The witch delicately placed a hand over his mouth, stopping all sound from escaping. "Think no more of him and come with me," she said, gesturing to Riku. "I'll help you find what you're searching for…"

Without a word, Riku nodded. Smiling, the woman opened a dark portal back. He walked in, and the woman dragged a struggling Broderick with her.

* * *

"What are my keyholes, then?" I asked, frowning. My newest friends Yuffie and Leon had just explained to Sora what he kept locking, so I was sort of wondering what was happening.

The two of them exchanged glances, and I got the feeling not many people knew about this. "About ten years ago," Leon slowly started, "something out of the ordinary happened."

"There was a girl," Yuffie continued. "She was only 4 or so, and her heart was still made of light."

"Why don't know how or why," commented Aerith who was hiding out in a corner, "but someone experimented on her. They took the light out of her heart and manipulated it as a weapon."

"A weapon?" Sora asked, frowning.

Yuffie nodded. "That's right. And they started to use it to eat at the worlds' cores. Which is why those keyholes are there—that girl's light won't hurt any worlds that you seal."

"Some say the girl's will created those holes," Leon said, leaning on the wall. "But no matter what, she's long gone."

"Oh. Well, let's go ring that bell, then." Sora gave me a weird look, so I must've sounded disappointed.

We made our way out and Sora rang the bell—three times, just like they said. The weird thing by the water fountain turned three times—until we found Sora's keyhole.

I frowned. "Where's mine?" I complained.

Sora shrugged. "I'm going to go seal that," he commented before jumping down from the balcony.

I sighed, walking away to find the other keyhole. Soon enough, I notice a weird door—one that was, unlike every other brown one down the row, neon purple. Sure enough, at the top was dark, swirling energy. I pointed my blade and I heard the regular _click._

I made it back just in time to see a large heart floating through the sky and Sora doing his thing with the keyhole, so I figured that he'd just fought a large heartless, like we always had to for one reason or another. "Good job," I told him. I took one last look at Anna who was talking with Aerith and using her hands a lot, before turning back to my friends. "Let's go," I sighed.

* * *

Wow…sorry it took so long! But currently, on the game profile that will (eventually) become my source for this, I am on Trickmaster! Yaaay!

Love it? Hate it? I wish for you to reveal your opinion!...or something like that…anyways, review!

**Thanks to those who:**

**Favorited this story:**

kingdomdisney

**Alerted this story:**

kingdomdisney

DarkRiddlesDestiny

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: I made it really, REALLY obvious. You better get it right. Nothing but cookie dough and cake compare to pie!

I have a point status? Cool. +10!

OK, you can stop…for now. Meh, I prefer actually playing the game…even though I don't have it…

Thank you!

Pomegranata: Sea salt ice cream? Awesome! I love you! She probably would, wouldn't she? That might actually be fun to write about…

mysteriousguy898: Yeah…she's got it rough. It will definitely affect her decisions later. Yay! Regular reviewer! Don't worry, I never check my e-mail, either.

BehindBeautifulEyes: I know, it's short and annoying. And yes, Anna is very boy-crazy…and will be in COM *coughREVERSE/REBIRTHcough*if I do a sequel that is.

kingdomdisney: Thanks!


	9. Without You

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 9: Without You**

"What's the next world?" I asked, head perched on my hand. I had finally actually gotten a seat on the ship, and I was completely abusing the privilege.

"Agrabah," Sora replied, shooting a couple more heartless ships down. I sighed impatiently while Donald yelled.

"Gawrsh, Donald, are ya alright?" Goofy asked, turning in his seat.

I heard a muffled "No!" The stupid duck was currently smashed into the wall by a dresser. I bit back laughter.

"Be careful!" I grinned, and I could feel him glaring at me. I squinted through the glass at the next world, and I froze.

No. No way. NO WAY.

"I'M NOT GOING THERE!" I yelled, scrambling backwards.

Everybody stared at me. "Why not?" Sora frowned.

I was cowering behind my seat, breathing deeply. It…the world…it had looked so _bright. _Cheerful. Like a desert. I could almost feel the sun from here. It was hot…and BRIGHT.

"I won't," I whispered, shaking my head back and forth wildly. "No! I won't go!" Realizing that I sounded like a 3-year-old, I stopped suddenly. "I refuse to enter," I said importantly.

Sora continued to gape at me until, with a sudden rocking motion, I was thrown against the wall. My shoulder burned. "Lexi!" Goofy yelled. "Are ya OK?"

"SORA," I yelled. "PAY ATTENTION TO THE HEARTLESS SHIPS, DANGIT!"

He instinctively turned towards my voice, which caused the ship to ricochet off a space rock and hurl me through the brand-new hole that had formed. I remember thinking, _At least there's no light, _right before blacking out.

* * *

_"We have to find her!" I yelled desperately as Donald, Goofy, and I walked down the endless desert._

_"Aw, phooey," Donald replied. "We don't need her! She was good for nothing, anyway!"_

_"That's not true!" Goofy protested, but I was in my own little world. Lexi had been traveling with us the entire time! I couldn't imagine not traveling with her! It just wasn't right._

_By then, we had stumbled upon a town. "Who's there?" I heard a voice asked, and for a moment I felt myself fill with hope—maybe Lexi had fallen on this world, too? "Hello?"_

_Unfortunately, it wasn't Lexi, but it was a girl. We'll talked for a little while, and she explained where we were. "Oh, I hope Aladdin's all right," she said sadly._

_"Aladdin?" A new voice said, and I turned only to find my connection blocked. "Wake up, girl…wake up…"_

"Come on, now," said the voice. "Wake up."

I groaned, turning over, only to feel my arm burning. "Be careful," the man warned. He had a weird English accent. "I'm going to use Cure, all right?"

He didn't give me time to answer before saying something, and instantly I felt about 10 times better. "Thanks," I groaned, sitting up.

"No problem," the man replied. He had a red bandana on over black dreadlocks and what looked like a sailor's outfit.

"Are you a pirate?" I asked, fascinated.

He swelled with pride. "That I am," he said grinning. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. You had a bad shoulder infection—surprised I got to it in time. Mind sharing the story behind that scar?"

"It's personal, thanks," I replied, standing and brushing off my jeans. I slowly took in the jungly trees and water all around. "Where am I?"

"An island," he replied, nodding.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Ugh. This is just like Deep Jungle."

"Where?" he asked, head cocked.

"Oh, nowhere." I waved it off and started walking around. "How do we get out?"

"Well," he replied, "I've got a pistol with a single shot, a couple of bananas, and an almost-finished raft. What you think we could do?"

I thought for a moment. "Let's save the shot and bananas for when we need them and finish the raft out of here."

"Since when were you calling the shots?" he asked, hands on hips.

"Why shouldn't I?" I asked, eyebrows raised, before turning and starting to walk away. "Fine. If you don't want my help…"

"You don't get a choice." His voice was so smug, I stopped in my tracks. "That shoulder infection could've killed you. I saved your life; now you owe me a debt."

I clenched my fists. The worst part? He was right. If I walked away now, I'd probably be battling with my conscience for a while. "All right," I said grudgingly, turning.

He grinned. "That's what I thought. Come on, now; we need to find supplies."

I don't know how much time passed, but it was spent gathering supplies and chatting. I learned a lot more than I've really ever learned about anyone in one day.

Close to the end, I started to realize something. I frowned. "It's really dark out here."

"That's cause it's nighttime," Jack nodded. "Savvy?"

"Savvy?" I frowned.

He sighed. "Tell you later." He surveyed me. "Say, you have very nice eyes."

"What?" I frowned before bringing my hand in front of my face and making another realization…a scary one. "My glasses are gone! And so is my hat!"

"Calm down," he soothed, but I continued to panic. "It's not like you need them right now, it's so dark out."

"It's not 'right now' that I'm concerned about," I replied, searching around frantically. "We have to find them!"

In the end, we didn't find either. He dragged me back to working on the raft, and to calm me down, he explained about pirate talk. In the end, I could tell you anything pirate-like—and with an English accent, too. I was so proud.

"All right," I said, finally at peace. He gave a sigh of relief, leaning backwards. "Now, are we almost done with the raft?"

"I'd say," he agreed, nodding. "We just need to tie this last piece of twine in, and then we can sail off this godforsaken rock."

"Definitely," I grinned, but I was looking around, worried. I hadn't seen a single Heartless yet, which I would've taken as a good sign if my friends (and the stupid duck) were with me, but today made me uneasy. I wrapped the twine around the boards, tied it as best as I could, and then climbed on. Jack pushed us off and jumped on just as we started to float.

"How long will this take?" I asked, head cocked as I sat down.

He shrugged, lying on his back. "'Bout an hour, I'd say. Maybe two."

I groaned and sit back myself. I wondered what Sora and them were doing now. I could always fall asleep to check on them, but I never knew how long I would see them—I could be watching them for hours, or I could only get a glance. And not only had my last nap left me energized, it was a little creepy to not be myself, even if it was just a dream.

"How'd you get stranded out here if it's only an hour or so to mainland?" I asked, putting my hands behind my head and frowning, eyes still closed.

"Well," he replied, using his hands as he talked, "at first I was tied up, so they must've thought I couldn't get out of that. Also, I started on an island much farther out, so I had to work my way up to that small bit of land there. Finally, I was stranded years ago, so I was getting used to not being there."

I gaped openly. "Years ago? How'd you survive if you only had a pistol and a single shot at first AND you were tied up, AND you didn't ever use the bullet?"

He winked at me. "My old crew forgot one very important thing. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

"So I've heard," I replied, rolling my eyes in response. He grinned. "Jack, why did your crew desert you?"

"They wanted the ship," he replied bitterly. "The Black Pearl. My first mate Barbossa led a rebellion, got me stranded there."

"Wow," I replied, blinking. We sat in silence for an hour or so, just annoying the night. Every once in a while I would dip my hand in the water, just to see the ripples.

"AUGH!" I turned to see that Jack, having stood, was falling backwards. He tumbled into the sea, leaving me to yell after him. I looked up to find what had surprised him so badly.

"Heartless!" I yelled, summoning Lock and Key. I started to take them out quickly so that I could save Jack, but there were too many. I worked to fight through them, but soon enough I'd fallen back onto the raft, holding my Keyblade up shakily.

"Lexi!"

I looked up, startled, to find the bright blue eyes of my brother, Broderick. He'd already slashed through all of the creatures with his weird heart-sword.

"Brod—"

"Shh!" He quickly covered my mouth was his hand, and I frowned at him, confused. "Nobody can know I'm here. You can't say my name, and you can't tell anyone, OK?"

I nodded, and he let my mouth go. "What are you doing here?" I frowned.

"Helping," he replied with a nod. "Shouldn't you get your friend?"

My eyes widened. "JACK!" I bellowed before diving, only barely hearing his comment of "see you on the mainland!" I searched wildly in the water before finding him, desperately trying to swim but being pulled down by the currents. As I watched, his eyes slowly started closing as he lost consciousness. Without thinking, I grabbed him and forced his head above the waves.

He gasped for breath. His dreadlocks were flattened, which actually looked really funny, but I probably looked worse, so I can't complain. I grabbed our raft, which had been floating away, and hauled myself onto it, leaving him to scramble on.

After I caught my breath, I declared, "I think that your debt's repaid."

He nodded before sitting up. "Well, no use fighting it now," he sighed. "We're friends, I guess."

I grinned. "Bonded by trauma. That's us."

"Exactly," he agreed before looking up to find a bunch of sparkling lights through a really dank fog. "I think we're almost there. Savvy?"

"Awesome!" I exclaimed, bouncing so much I almost tipped us again. Sure enough, soon we saw a normal dock and noises of civilization. Strangely enough, though, Jack cursed.

"It's gone," he frowned, nose scrunched. "I thought for sure they'd have the boat back here for repairs."

I realized what he was talking about and felt really stupid for not knowing before. "I'm sure they'll be back soon," I assured him before—for the first time in about 12 hours (seriously. It took a LONG time to gather supplies)—stepping into a town. Of course, I almost tripped over something the ground. I glared at it only to find that it was shiny. I like shiny things.

I stooped to the ground, picking it up. "It looks like a medallion," I frowned.

"It has features of Aztecs," Jack noted, stepping onto land. "You should probably keep it; it'd be worth a fortune."

I stared for a moment before hanging it around my neck and grinning. "My only keepsake," I joked.

He nodded, smiling just a little. "Gonna go talk to that man there—see if I can con some money out of him."

"Sounds good," I replied, nodding. As soon as he turned his back, I felt something hit the back of my head.

"Your welcome," I heard Broderick grin. I rolled my eyes and, after seeing it and almost squealing in delight, stuffed my hat on my head and my sunglasses on my face.

"Thank you!" I said, tackling him into a hug. He smiled, shrugging me off.

"There's a gummy ship in the woods for you to travel on," he explained, looking around as if he was trying to keep a secret, which I didn't really understand. "I can't tell you why right now, but that's all I can do. Stay safe, OK? The rest is up to you."

"Wait!" I exclaimed, but he had already walked off to who knows where. I sighed, staring at my brand-new necklace before walking over to tell Jack.

"I'm leaving," I said, interrupting his subtle flattery to the rich-looking man.

"What?" he frowned, staring at me.

I looked at him sadly. "I have to leave. They need me somewhere else. But I promise to come back!"

Staring forlornly into the distance for a moment, he sighed and turned to me. "Good luck, mate," he said, nodding.

I had to grin. "Aye, aye, captain," I replied jokingly before turning and making my way into the never-ending bit of trees.

After about 10 minutes of getting poked in the sides by thorns, I found a place with so much plant life it looked like there was barbed wire. And guess what? There was the gummy ship, right smack in the middle.

Mentally cursing my brother and his pranks, I picked my way through and into the very fancy and cushiony driver's seat before taking the wheel. I mean, how hard could it be to drive a 50-ton rocket?

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Anna sat, staring forlornly out the window. She should've made Lexi take her! She felt so useless, just sitting there and not doing anything. She needed to be helping to look for her cousin!

"Don't you wish to find him?" A dark voice asked, and Anna whirled around to find a tall green woman with horns—she decided that a witch would be a good description.

"W-what?" she replied, completely taken aback.

"They're not searching," the woman told her. "You want to find your cousin, don't you? Well, your friend is more interested in goofing off, it seems."

"No," she replied, voice trembling. "Lexi likes Anthony just as much as I do! She wouldn't…"

"Oh?" the witch replied. "Then why would she leave you here? You would be a valuable asset."

Anna said nothing.

The green woman extended her hand. "Come. I will help you with what you're searching for."

After hesitating a moment, Anna extended her own arm and touched the woman's hand.

* * *

_Meanwhile(again)…_

Maleficent and a brown girl with braided hair entered through a portal just in time to hear Hades say, "That smarmy vizier could've had 'em—if someone had stuck around to give him a hand."

Riku shrugged, staring at the girl as he recognized her—Lexi's friend, Anna. She was a pretty young girl, but Riku shook the thoughts out of his head. Stupid hormones. "Hey, I did my part," he said defensively, turning back to the fire-headed man. "I brought the princess, didn't I?"

"Jafar was beyond help," Maleficent declared. "Consumed by his own hatred. One should be aware of letting it burn to fiercely."

Anna was obviously completely lost, but she nodded as if she understood. Riku had to feel sympathetic—it was confusing at first. But within a few hours, she would realize that she had made the right choice.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Hades argued. "Lighten up. I'm as cool as they come, OK?"

"You're on fire," Anna pointed out. "You can't be cool. So, I guess you're hot."

There was a moment of silence before Hades roared with laughter. "I like your style, kid," he commented, laying a hand on her shoulder.

When he regained control of himself, he cleared his throat and turned to Riku again. "By the way, kid, have we got something special for you."

"We had a deal, yes?" Maleficent asked, nodding. "You help us, and we grant your wish…"

"Kairi!" Riku yelled as that exact red-head appeared on a platform.

"Go to her," Maleficent ordered. "Your vessel is waiting."

"Just remember," said Hook, who'd just walked in, "this is no pleasure cruise! It won't be a pleasant voyage!"

"Why are you doing all this for me?" Riku asked, frowning. "What's the catch?"

"Umm…" Riku suddenly remembered that Anna was in the room. "Ms…?"

"Maleficent," the witch replied stonily.

"Maleficent. Got it. Well, Maleficent, what do I have to do to get Anthony back?"

It suddenly struck Riku that Anna would be looking for someone, too. That kid that Lexi had mentioned…maybe he and Anna were dating…? Somehow, the thought made him sick.

"Just go along with Riku, dear," Maleficent purred in response. "You will find him soon. Trust me." She flicked her wrist, and a very good-looking boy suddenly appeared on the table.

"Anthony!" she yelled, utterly absorbed.

Maleficent looked at Riku, nodding in the girls direction. "You are in charge of teaching her the dark ways."

Riku nodded and dragged a still-staring Anna out of the room with him.

* * *

OH yes. Anna turned to darkness. I bet you all were NOT expecting that!

No, there is no keyhole for Port Royal. Why not? Because it took me so long just to write what's already there, I really don't want to exert that much more energy.

OK, now that this has happened, I have a question for you all. Should I take Lexi to Monstro, should I take her to another world only in KH2, or should I make up a Disney world? I look forward to what you all have to say about that.

**Thank you to:**

**Those who favorite this story:**

NOOO! Tell me it's not happening again! NOOOO!

**Those who alerted this story:**

Ruciro Katsura

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: Why, of course not. XD You will NEVER guess where her light is. Who doesn't? IT's DELICIOUS!

Oh yeah! +20 points total! I'm on a ROLL!

Yeah, neither do I . Which is why I'm obsessively earning money…*cough, cough*

Glad to know my intensity is good. Thank you.

BehindBeautifulEyes: YES. That has me laughing EVERY time I see it! You are AWESOME now!

Pomegranata: Cupcakes are my comfort food, so thank you! I hope the party was fun. Moogles are adorable! No, that's not quite how it works, but you're close. Um…Hasta….next time I update!

mysteriousguy898: You are SO CLOSE. And yes, her reaction will be awesome when she finds out.

kingdomdisney: Thanks! I'm glad you're taking the time to review it!


	10. Once Upon a Dream

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 10: Once Upon a Dream**

I fail at driving the gummy ship.

There were so many knobs and dials, I just didn't have a clue what to do. And it didn't help that there was this big red button just waiting to be pushed. It took all my willpower to not just slam my fist on it and see what would happen.

After narrowly avoiding about 50 Heartless ships, I finally found a world. I searched for a moment before finding the name. "The New World?" Oh, this world name FAILED.

"Umm…" I stared at myself for a moment. I wasn't quite sure I could do Donald's teleporting magic without leaving behind an eyeball or something, but I had to try. Taking a deep breath, I pointed by blade at myself and winced as the spell impacted.

After opening my eyes again and feeling all over to make sure I hadn't accidentally died, I realized that I was in a large forest. Sighing, I started to walk over a rock. I suddenly heard the sound of tools—somebody was building. I ran forward before stopping and staring in awe.

There was a huge fort in front of me. And by huge, I mean about 800 feet tall. It was made of bricks, and they were still adding more to it. A man with a black hat and red hair was sitting down and getting a drink.

"Uh, hello?" I asked him uncertainly.

He looked up, instinctively reaching for his gun, but relaxed when he saw me. "Yes?" he replied curiously with an English accent.

"Where am I?" I frowned.

"In the New World, right?" he nodded. "It's going to be amazing. General Radcliffe says we're going to find gold out here! Exciting, right?"

"Definitely!" I agreed. "But what's with the fort?"

"Got to keep the savages out," he grinned. "They were on this land, keeping the gold to themselves, I guess."

"If they were here first, aren't you intruding on their land?" I asked, frowning.

He shrugged. "I don't think so. The Spaniards came over here and took land without a problem, so I don't see why we can't. I'm Thomas, by the way."

"Lexi," I replied, grinning. "Well, what do you all have in camp?"

"Quite a bit," he replied. "Come on, I'll show you."

We walked inside the fort for a while, and I figured out the layout. I talked to some men, but mostly they said stuff about savages and guns, which I found sort of racist. Eventually, we came to this big, gaudy tent. "What's this?" I asked curiously.

"That's the General's tent," Thomas replied with a nod. "Nobody's allowed in there, but we always hear him yelling. He's not very kind."

"I understand," I nodded. I was sort of feeling sorry for the guy until he stepped out.

He was this round guy with old-timey clothes and a very haughty face. He was glaring at me through pudgy eyes, which in itself was hilarious, but what made me collapse laughing was his hair.

"You…have…braids!" I gasped out, literally lying on the ground, I had laughed so hard. "And bows! Oh…my…gosh!"

He didn't say anything. He just yelled "GET OUT!" and suddenly, I was on the other side of the fort's wall.

"Real friendly," I commented sarcastically before starting on my way into the forest, hoping to find something to eat. A chuckle still made its way out every once in a while, but I had calmed myself down by the time I'd reached a clearing with two people in it. One was a guy with blonde hair that reached his shoulders and a war helmet, and another was this tan girl with long black hair and wearing animal skins.

"A compass?" she was asking, turning around just that.

"Yes," the man encouraged. "It tells you where to go when you're lost."

"Um…hello?" I coughed, walking into the scene.

"Hello," the man replied politely, looking up at me. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lexi," I replied, a weird look on my face. "Who are you?"

"I'm John Smith," the man replied with a smile.

"Pocahontas," the woman said gently.

"That's great," I nodded. "And…where am I?"

"In a forest," said an old-sounding voice behind me. I expected to see an elderly woman behind me, but guess what I got? A tree. A large, talking tree.

I blinked before starting to turn in a circle. "It's official," I decided. "I've gone crazy. Oh, Donald will never let me hear the end of this. Doorknobs, I can handle. Goats, I can handle. Trees…not so much."

"Calm down," the tree assured me. "My bark is worse than my bite!"

"Great," I complained. "Now I'm seeing a talking tree that tells bad jokes. Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most."

"It's scary at first, isn't it?" John asked, standing. "But she's just a nature spirit. Her name's Grandmother Willow."

"Well, at least I'm not the only crazy person," I decided.

Before he could argue, Pocahontas started to yell. "Mico! Come back here!" We turned to find a raccoon (who I assumed was Mico) prancing up a tree with a compass in its hand.

"It's all right," John assured. "He can't hurt it."

**And then…something weird happened. I felt like there was someone else in my head. For some reason, I flashed back to my dreams about Sora. Maybe he was dreaming about me…? No. I must just be going crazy.**

**"All right," I said. "If I'm not crazy, and that tree is actually talking to me, and I shouldn't freak out, then do you all want me to leave?"**

**"You may stay if you want," Pocahontas assured me, smiling.**

**"That's OK," I nodded in reply. "See you all later."**

**I made my way through the forest, wondering…if Sora was dreaming of me like I dreamt of him, could I contact him? And what if we were asleep at the same time? It'd be SO cool if we actually had our own dreams, wouldn't it?**

**Meh, now I'm confusing myself. Anyways, after walking for at least an hour, I made my way to a small clearing filled with tents and people. "Hey! You all look like Pocahontas!" I commented brightly.**

**They all stopped what they were doing to stare at me. "Pocahontas?" asked a young girl, sounding troubled.**

**I nodded. "Pocahontas. My friend."**

**And then another tan-skinned person suddenly ran in, yelling "Kocoum! Kocoum!" and then a bunch of words I didn't understand. All I knew was that everyone was gasping at horror and staring at me. Then, all at once, I felt my hands being tied behind my back.**

All of a sudden, the other presence in my head was gone. Maybe Sora had woken up; maybe I'd imagined the whole thing. Either way, I was sort of glad to be alone, because they threw me in a tent and tied me to a pole, making me feel weak and helpless. I could hear someone else being tied, too.

"So we're in the same boat?" he asked, and I recognized the voice as John Smith, the man I'd talked to for about 2 minutes earlier. Well, at least I knew someone.

"You could say that," I replied. "What am I even here for? I just walked in and then they threw me here."

"Thomas killed one of the warrior savages who was about to kill me," John replied frowning. "He…he caught me kissing Pocahontas."

Now, don't get me wrong; I knew that I could die, and I knew that we were in a seriously scary position. But I burst out laughing. "You're…such…a…teenager!" I managed to gasp out.

"Thanks for being serious," he muttered, and from then on it was silent until someone entered the tent. "John?" she whispered.

"Pocahontas," he whispered in reply, and I realized something that sort of scared me. They were using the same tone of voice Sora and I sometimes used. Shaking away the creepy mental images, I tuned back into their conversation.

"If you'd never met me, this never would've happened," Pocahontas was saying desperately.

"Pocahontas," John replied quietly. "Look at me. No matter what happens to me, I would rather die tomorrow than live one hundred years without you."

On the other side of the pole, I mimed barfing and then silently laughed at myself, proving that I'm completely insane now.

Pocahontas left not long after that, and I heard John snoring pretty quickly. I sighed and started wiggling my hands, hoping to loosen the rope.

"Need help?"

I looked up, surprised. "Anna?" I frowned. "How'd you get away from Traverse Town?"

She shrugged and took a step towards me, dragging my eyes toward her hip, where a sword was clanging in a scabbard. "I had help," she assured me crisply.

"Right," I replied with a nod and a weird look. Then a thought occurred to me, and I brightened up. "Hey, Anna! Do you know where Sora, Donald, and Goofy are? Or Riku?"

"What about Anthony?" she asked, sounding hurt.

"Well, I'll search for him, too," I replied, rolling my eyes. "But right now, I need to find them!"

She stared at me for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't know," she replied, and her voice sounded emotionless.

"Oh." My head drooped. "Well, what about Broderick?"

"That's not his name," she blurted before covering her mouth. I stared at her for a moment.

"What is his name?" I asked slowly. She shook her head. "Oh, come on, Anna. We both know that you can't keep a secret."

She scowled before uncovering his mouth and taking a deep breath. "His name…is Alex," she admitted. "And at the moment, we're trying to track him down."

"Who's we?" I asked, head cocked.

"I've said too much already," she replied, voice shaking. "Do you want help, or not?"

I was about to nod before I thought of something. When Sora and I traveled to different worlds, he always did something in the world—helped them in some way, or at least made some friends. I hadn't done that. Was I not good enough? Of course I was! Now I needed to prove it!

After a moment of hesitation, I shook my head. She shrugged. "Suit yourself," she replied, and she was about to leave before there was a scream outside. The rope, which I'd been pulling at for the entire time we were talking, finally came loose, and I jumped up, running out. I heard Anna coming out behind me.

Sitting out there was a gruesome sight. Mico and Pocahontas were trying to fight off this giant Heartless that looked pretty scary, even considering it'd lost its heart. Instead of being one solid color, it was multiple shades of red, orange, yellow, and green, almost like leaves in fall. It didn't have body parts, so it was just one giant head that sort of bounced around everywhere. At the top of its head was a giant thing that looked like a tree, or maybe a giant piece of broccoli. It had the standard giant yellow eyes, but the weirdest parts about it were the giant root-like tentacles that wiggled around and hit everything like a whip.

I ran forward, yelling "Run!" and summoning Lock and Key. While Mico and Pocahontas got out of there, Anna came up next to me and unsheathed her sword.

I figured one could fire spell would send the thing up in smoke, but unfortunately it didn't quite work out that way. Any magic just seemed to make it madder, so while Anna continued to work at it from a distance, I decided to use a hands-on activity. I sliced, diced, dashed, and dodge-rolled until it collapsed. Just before it's heart flew up, one of the roots hit my right in the gut, and I flew backwards, skidding slightly on the ground on my butt. "Are you OK?" Anna asked, striding towards me.

I made a face in reply. "Of course I'm OK. Getting hurt by a giant plant doesn't wound my pride or anything."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I meant physically."

I opened my mouth to make what would (of course) be a blistering remark that would put her in her place, but she had disappeared into some kind of portal. I sighed and stood before, taking a step forward, tripping over a root.

"Great," I muttered. "Just great."

I looked around, but the place was deserted. I noticed that there was a huge crowd at some cliff, so I ran up to check it out.

When I got there, something really weird was happening. Pocahontas was covering John, and there was a man holding an axe over his head. The head seemed to be speaking, and Pocahontas and John both stood, beaming. Pocahontas took a small step towards me. "This is for you," she said softly, holding out the compass Mico had stolen.

"Me?" I frowned, pointing to myself. "But…why?"

"You helped," she replied softly. "You may not realize it, but you have affected everything here."

I frowned, but nodded. "Well…thank you." Before I could take it, it shone and then a keyhole shimmered on the surface. But there was a difference between this hole and the others. Instead of being just light or just dark, it was a swirling mixture, like that one brand of cereal with the "silly (cough STUPID cough) rabbit." A little weirded out, I tried to summon Lock and Key, but something else weird happened. Instead of my regular Keyblade, a new one appeared in my hand. The handle was in the shape of a complete heart, and the line part connecting the handle and the teeth had a sort of diamond-ish pattern. On the side of the line thing, these little wire strings just barely jutted out in a pattern. The end of the Keyblade and the teeth were both skulls. The keychain was made up of full hearts, unlike Lock and Key's, which was made up of half-hearts that were connected. At the end of the keychain was another skull.

_Dark Light, _that weird voice in my mind told me. I figured that was the name. I shrugged and pulled the Keyblade forward, effectively sealing the Keyhole. Dark Light disappeared almost immediately, and somehow, I felt like my job was accomplished.

I left for my gummy ship, earning a lot of good-bye waves. I made my way into the driver's seat and, with a sigh, slumped back and passed out.

* * *

_I sighed as our gummy ship took off. What had been wrong with Riku? He had acted so distant and cold. It was scary. And what was with him and asking about Lexi?_

_Thinking about Lexi, that dream awhile before was really weird. I'd actually BEEN her. And she'd thought about something…something about her dreaming about me, too. Maybe that was the presence in my head for a while? But I'm feeling it right now!_

_Maybe I can contact her. Lexi? Hello? Aw, I feel like an idiot now. Lexi, if you're there, you'd better respond. Lexi?_

Sora?

_Lexi! Is that you? Or am I going crazy?_

It's Lexi! Sora, meet me in Traverse Town!

_Ok, meet you there!_

Sora?

_Lexi?_

* * *

The main purpose of this chapter was to introduce the idea of Sora dreaming of Lexi. For those of you who don't know, from now on, whenever Sora's dreaming of her, the words shall be bolded. That and giving you a glimpse at Dark Light.

In other news, SORA AND LEXI HAVE A SONG NOW. That's right, all. During my one-week-long writer's block (which I have FINALLY gotten over), I found a song that fits Sora and Lexi! I also found songs for about three other pairings, but I won't tell you what they are. I want to keep it a surprise.

What is their song, you ask? It's called Everywhere by Yellowcard. It doesn't describe their relationship yet, but it will pretty soon. Will there be a chapter based on it? Not in this story. In a sequel? Oh, definitely!

OK…getting away from my random obsession with couple songs, I am SO sorry for a) the long update time and b) this fail of a chapter. It took a while because, like I said, I had writer's block for a while, and it failed because making up a plot is seriously hard. I don't know how Tetsuya Nomura does it regularly.

**Thanks to those who:**

**Favorited this story:**

icekitsune11

Crimson Solitude of the Moon

**Alerted this story:**

icekitsune11

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: A lot of things are magically delicious. :D

Let's see if I can reach 100 by the end of the story! A challenge…shall be fun.

LE GASP! The newest Rick Riordan book? I didn't know it was out!...gonna go, you know, spend my money now…

Sorry, you were sort of outvoted. Plus, Lexi DID get a shock. :)

Pomegranata: Darknessified is a word to me! Thanks, but I'm pretty sure you must've face-palmed somewhere at my fail to use originality. NOTHING makes cheese look pathetic!

BehindBeautifulEyes: You, my friend, are completely psychic when it comes to pairings. I bow to you.

I give you full permission to kill me for destroying any good plot for Pocahontas. D:

kingdomdisney: Jack Sparrow is incredibly awesome.

Crimson Solitude of the Moon: That's OK, hyperness is awesome. :D Wow, you catch on quick, huh? You're only the second one to figure it out, so don't tell anyone!

Thank you!

A hurricane of words: Thanks! Notre Dame's in KH2 for now. :)


	11. End This Quickly

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 11: End This Quickly**

"Sora!" I yelled, running through the streets. Where was he? He promised to meet me in Traverse Town!

"Lexi?" I heard another voice call, and I ran straight into the person it belonged to after rolling around a corner.

"Sora, is that you?" I asked, blinking as I slammed into the ground.

"No, it's Broderick," he replied sarcastically, and I grinned up at the grinning, spiky-haired brunette.

"Apparently, that's not his name," I replied with a frown.

"What are you talking about?" Sora questioned, head cocked. I still couldn't believe that I was actually seeing him again. I took a deep breath and told him everything about The New World and Port Royal—everything that I could, anyways. Something stopped me from telling him about John and Pocahontas. What? No, I'm not blushing!

He blinked. "So you saw Anna? Wow, that's creepy. I saw Riku, too…" he shared the story of the giant whale that had swallowed him, and I gaped openly.

"Wow," I blinked. "What do you think was wrong with them?"

"I dunno," Sora replied with a grin. "But we should go get Donald and Goofy! They'll be happy to see you!"

I wanted to say that I doubted Donald would ever be happy to see anything related to me, but he was already dragging me in the direction of where he usually parked the gummy ship. Along the way, we passed the house Leon and the gang hung out in, the Gizmo shop, and Cid's shop until we finally made it to the door of the world, where everyone's favorite talking animals were standing. Donald was scowling impatiently, and Goofy was staring in anticipation. I grinned as we walked up to them.

"Hey, guys!" I chirped. Out of character? Yes. Wrong considering the circumstances? I think not!

"Lexi!" Goofy yelled, running forward and giving me a hug. I hugged him back, grinning. Donald just stared at me for a moment before sighing, disgusted.

"Can we go?" he asked angrily.

I shrugged as Goofy backed up. "Sure. Come on."

The four of us made our way to the door, and I felt at home—something I hadn't known for a full two worlds. And when I looked at Sora, I found myself blushing for some reason that I couldn't figure out. I turned away quickly, silently scolding myself.

"Oh, hey!" I exclaimed, coming to a sudden realization. "I have my own gummy ship, guys!"

"_What?_" Donald demanded in reply, so surprised his scowl disappeared.

"I found it back at the world I fell onto!" I replied with a smile. "Come on—I'll show you! It's really big, and it's blue, and—and—"

By this time, we'd reached the spot I'd landed at, and I was just looking around, completely confused. "Where'd it go?" I wondered, frowning.

Donald sighed, tapping his foot. "So this was pointless?" he asked with a frown.

I nodded reluctantly. "Well…I guess so, yeah. Let's go back to the ship, you guys."

We trudged back to our rocket. My spirits were slightly dampened, but they were brought back up when I saw Sora again. We were going to be OK—I knew it already.

The trip to the next world was mostly used for catching up on the playful bantering between Sora and I. When we finally got there, there was a slight problem with the world.

"That's water!" I pointed out. "We'll drown!"

"Not with my magic, we won't!" Donald argued. And then he zapped you.

When we were all down there, Donald was half-squid and floating upside down, which made me laugh. Goofy was part turtle, too, but the weirdest part was that Sora didn't have a shirt on. I almost blushed again before catching myself. Then I looked down, and I found the weirdest thing that day.

"Awesome!" I cheered. "I'm part seahorse!"

Sora, who was some weird shark-ish thing and, like I said, was shirtless, turned to me, surprised. I had my black shirt on, but there was no skull and (disappointingly) it wasn't ripped, and my medallion still hung on my neck. My bottom half was red-brown and scaly. At the tail, it swirled in a circle. My hair was just sort of…there.

We all floated around for a bit, and then a red-haired mermaid and a little yellow fish swam in. "Come on, Sebastian!" the mermaid called.

"Ariel, wait!" called a voice with a Jamaican accent, and I was surprised to see a crab. "Slow down! Don't leave me behind!" Sebastian came face-to-face with Donald and, not surprisingly, he screamed and swam behind the girl.

"Relax, Sebastian," Ariel chuckled. "They don't look like one of them. Right, Flounder?"

"I don't know," the fish replied uneasily. "There's something weird about them…"

"Eh heh heh heh…What are you talking about?" Sora replied uneasily.

"They do seem…a little different," Ariel agreed. "Where are you from?"

"We're from kind of far away," Sora replied. "And…we're not really used to these waters. Heh heh."

"Way to keep inconspicuous," I muttered, elbowing him.

"Oh, I see," Ariel commented. "Well, in that case…Sebastian can show you how we swim around here!"

Sebastian, who had been in a sort of glaring contest with Donald (taking over my job momentarily), turned around, surprised, and swam over. "Ariel, King Triton will not like this!"

Ariel was rolling her eyes and frowning, which made me grin a little. "Oh, don't worry."

"All right," Sebastian agreed begrudgingly. He then showed us how to flap our fin-tail-things upwards, downwards, and side-to-side.

"Good job," he commented. "Now let's move on to self-defense."

"Sebastian!" Ariel interrupted.

Sebastian and us turned, and there were some weird jellyfish-shaped Heartless coming our way. The others swam away. "Class is over! Good luck!" the crab called behind him before shutting himself and Flounder into a shell.

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the help," I called, rolling my eyes before summoning Lock and Key. But…Lock and Key didn't come. Instead, it was that weird Keyblade—Dark Light, right?—that had appeared in the New World.

"What is that?" Sora asked, fascinated. I blinked before realizing I'd forgotten to mention it.

"Tell you later," I assured him before going at the nearest Heartless.

After five minutes or so, we finally got the last one, and everyone got out of their hiding places. "Wow! You can fight those things!" Ariel exclaimed, fascinated.

Dark Light disappeared, and Lock and Key returned in its place. "Yeah, it's not hard," I replied, grinning. "We are super-cool and all."

Sora's eyebrows rose and he opened his mouth, but Sebastian interrupted him. "Ariel, we have to get back to the castle!"

"Of course," she beamed before turning to us. "Could you protect us from those things on the way?"

"Sure," Sora said before I could say anything.

After that it was easy, just following the pointing tridents. Pretty quickly, we made our way to this giant palace, but a huge group of Heartless was behind us. We turned to fight them, but they were zapped away. We turned to see an old guy in a weird crown on a throne, which makes me think I described him really badly.

"That was too close," he complained. Ariel grinned and swam up to him. "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace."

"Daddy?" the ginger chirped.

"Oh, Ariel!" he replied, angrily, and her face became downcast. "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there!"

Ariel sighed and made a shrugging motion, looking sort of annoyed. "Strange creatures lurk outside."

I couldn't help myself; I laughed. Sebastian glared at me before clearing his throat. "Behold. You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton!"

"Trident?," I snorted. "Your name is definitely not ironic at all, sir."

The King glared, and all of a sudden I noticed that trident sparking with energy might not mean millions of dollars to me. "Do not cross me, child of darkness," he scowled.

"_What?_" I frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Think nothing of it," he replied, waving it off. "Now, Ariel. Who are they?"

"They helped us fight off those creatures!" Ariel replied, smiling.

"They don't seem familiar," he frowned, especially in my direction. Yeesh. Do I tick off every person of power?

"We're from an ocean very far away," Sora lied smoothly, not stuttering like before. I was extremely impressed.

"Yup," Goofy _hyuck_-ed. "We came to find the Keyhole!"

"What's that?" Ariel replied good-naturedly.

"Well, it's a—" he started to explain.

"There's no such thing," Triton yelled, scowling angrily, "certainly not here.

"But, Daddy…" Ariel complained.

"Ariel, not another word!" he replied with a frown. "You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear?"

She pouted for a moment before turning and swimming away. Uncertainly, we followed.

"Oh, don't mind him," she waved it away. "He never lets me do anything. Come on, I want to show you something."

We went out and, after pushing away a huge rock, found a really peaceful sort of cave—a grotto, Ariel called it. It was nice, and I stuck around a bit before swimming out. After I did, I noticed something glittering out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey, Ariel," I called, swimming over to the glass trident. "Won't this fit that thing in your grotto?"

"It does," she agreed, picking it up and beaming. "Let's go put it in!"

So we had to swim all the way back to the grotto to put it back in. Once we did, I could swear I heard bubbles, but I was too busy staring at the glittering glass to notice. All of a sudden, I was pushed out of the way. I began to protest, but it died in my mouth when I saw who it was. I did not want to annoy him twice in the same day.

"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again!" Trident Triton bellowed. Everyone else turned to him as he continued. "I told you not to leave the palace!"

He gasped after a few moments. Then he pointed his trident at the glowing blue crystal. "Daddy, no!" Ariel called, but it was too late. The makeshift trident had shattered. I didn't know if mermaids could cry being underwater, but it looked like Ariel was trying. "How could you…" she whispered before swimming out.

Trident looked out at her sorrowfully, but then turned back to us. "Young man and…you," he frowned, glaring at me. "You're not from another ocean. You're from another world. Aren't you?"

Sora gaped, and I couldn't help but go along with him. "Then you must be the key bearers," the man decided.

"How did you know?" Sora frowned.

Oldie snorted. "You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail."

"Aren't they the same?" I frowned.

"NO." He scowled again, and I decided this guy was a lot like Donald. "As the key bearers, you must already know…one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds!"

"Of course we know that," Sora insisted, "but…"

"You have violated this principle," he interrupted. "The key bearer shatters peace and brings ruin."

"Aw, Sora's not like that," Goofy defended.

"What about me?" I frowned. He looked at me for a moment, and then just looked away, which made me wonder. Was I really that mean? Did I…shatter peace?

"Maybe you are the only problem," Mr. Star-crown replied a little too willingly.

"No!" Sora growled, and I turned, surprised. Her expression was fiercely out of character. It was a little weird to have someone else fighting my battles, but still…it was nice, in a way.

"Humph," he frowned, turning. "I thank you for saving my daughter, but there is no room in my ocean for you or your keys!"

There was silence for about three seconds after he left. "Well," I decided, "that was extremely overdramatic."

"We've got to change his mind!" Sora insisted, swimming towards the palace. I had no choice but to follow.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Ariel sobbed on a rock outside of her grotto. It wasn't fair! Her father was always so overprotective!

"My, my," the first eel commented almost sarcastically. "The poor child suffers such deep sorrow."

"What a pity," the second continued. "If only there were something we could do…"

"Wait," the first interrupted. "Maybe she can be of some help."

"Yes," the second agreed. "Maybe she can be of some help to you."

"Who're you talking about?" Ariel demanded inquisitively, tears forgotten.

"Oh, she would surely help you," the first decided, purposely dragging it out. "She'd make all your dreams come true." Then together, the two eels disappeared in a puff of black smoke, finishing with "Ursula can help…"

Out of the inky water stepped an octopus-like woman. "You called, my dear?" Ursula asked. An evil-looking grin lit up the room.

_Triton, _the sea witch thought, _your day is coming._

* * *

"Sora," I complained, "do you have to stop for every clam?"

He tapped another one only to find that he'd already opened it too, and there were no rewards. "They close right after you open them!" he complained. "I can't tell which I've opened and which I haven't!"

I groaned and face palmed as he swam determinedly to the next one. I was seriously considering dragging him by his hair at that point, but thank God he finally found one with something inside, and he let himself be pushed onwards. We finally found the palace, but what we saw made me wish that Sora didn't have a treasure obsession.

Some type of octopus-woman-thing was laughing and holding the trident—you know, the one with eternal power? Yeah, that one. Anyways, she was laughing evilly and holding it high in the air. "The trident is mine at last!" she cheered. I looked around for a moment. I was pretty sure that if we didn't stop her now, a huge battle would ensue, and we might actually lose if she had that thing. So I did the one thing nobody ever expects a heroine to do—I took the simple route.

As she continued laughing evilly and Ariel called, "Ursula, no! I didn't want this," I just swam up to the octopus. Sora was motioning for me to get back, but I ignored him. I got up next to her—she was so busy being dramatic, she didn't even notice me—and I poked her in the eyes. She was so surprised she dropped the trident. I promptly picked it up and pointed it at her.

"All right," I scowled. "Enough with all the overdramatic-ness. Just go away, you stupid octopus!" I concentrated, and the trident sent out a blast of fire (which, trust me, was REALLY cool-looking under water)that sent her flying back to wherever she came from. She left a couple legs behind, too, so I was pretty sure she wouldn't be back soon.

After about two seconds, Ariel swam up and hugged me, and then Sora did the same. "Come on," he whispered, and for some reason I shivered. "Let's go."

After about thirty minutes of Kingie apologizing, Ariel acting sweet and me trying not to drown, we finally made it out to the gummy ship. I guess using items of power makes you tired, because I collapsed into a seat and then it all went black.

* * *

Because we all know Lexi would do it. I mean, wouldn't you?

All right, my main reason of inspiration: I'M IN DISNEY WORLD! That's also my excuse for not updating, because they don't have wireless at our hotel, and my sister's been hogging the computer with internet. Therefore, since I'm STILL using YouTube, I haven't been able to update. Sorry!

My other reason? I was waiting for someone to alert or fave. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. AND I was planning the future. I know have KH3 planned. Yes, I'm that over-prepared. You know you all love it.

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: I BOUGHT IT AND IT'S SO AWESOOOOOOME! I love Leo *heart, heart*.

Yep, and it keeps getting better. :D

Thanks!

Pomegranata: Woot, thanks! 21 out of 10. Not bad.

kingdomdisney: I love Pocahontas too, but the sequel was fail.

mysteriousguy898: That's exactly the impression I wanted to give, and I'm glad someone caught that! Thank you! As for sequels…well, I'm thinking of doing Re: COM, KH2, all that jazz. What do you think?

BehindBeautifulEyes: Thank you! I strive to make my characters realistic. I think I did a good job this chapter, too. :)


	12. Sound

I own nothing.

**WARNING:** This chapter is so dramatic and (a little) angsty, I'm sincerely considering changing the story categories.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 12: Sound**

_I looked around anxiously. She couldn't know I was in her room—she'd freak out! I snuck through her drawers, making sure to put everything exactly where it was. Heart pounding, I opened a drawer quietly._

_"Looking for your present?"_

_I had to cover my mouth so I didn't scream, and I whirled around. Her hair, which was brown with blonde streaks, was curled tightly and reached her shoulders. Her hand were on her jean-clad hips, and her orange t-shirt hung out. I thought she would be angry, but her eyes had a sort of amused twinkle in them, and a smile tugged at the edge of her lips. "It's not in here," he assured me, and the look on my face made her chuckle. "Come on, Alexandra. You're not going to find it! Besides, you can wait a few days for your party!"_

_"No, I can't!" I pouted, and she laughed again, leading me out of my room. As she pulled me gently by the hand, I looked up, admiring her. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up!_

_"You really need a nickname," she commented, dragging me back to reality. "I mean, Alexandra? It's way too long. Too hard to say."_

_"What do you think?" I asked innocently._

_She gave me a weird look. "Why are you asking me?"_

_"Because you know everything!" I explained, throwing up the hand that wasn't clutching her fingers._

_She laughed again—she did that a lot. She loved to laugh, and I loved to make her laugh. "Not everything," she grinned. "Just a lot. Hmm…Alex?"_

_"That's a boy's name!" I made a face._

_"…Xandra?" she frowned._

_I hummed. "That's a pretty name! But…it doesn't sound like my name."_

_She nodded in agreement, and then paused. When she spoke again, it was softer. "How about Lexi?"_

_I grinned eagerly in consent, bouncing forward. As we passed the living room, a large bit of glass caught my eye. Mom's mirror. I stared into it, and somehow, I wasn't surprised to see a ghostly, black-haired boy standing next to me._

I woke up screaming.

Yeah, I know. That wasn't a scary dream, right? Not like some kind of monster was attacking me, or I was dying, or someone that I loved was hurt. Just a conversation with some girl. I screamed because it was so…_real._ And I know, I dream about Sora all the time, right? Those are pretty realistic. But this was different. I wasn't Sora—I was _me. _Honest to goodness, I was completely myself. And I saw Broderick—sorry, Alex—in a mirror. I don't know, it just scared me somehow.

Plus, that girl was calling me 'Alexandra.' Ick.

"Lexi? Lexi! You OK?" Sora was, of course, freaking out. I rolled my eyes and hit him groggily on the head.

"I'm fine," I muttered, shaking the dream out. It was…strange to not have dreamed of the brunet. Not bad, but definitely unexpected. "Just…confused."

He was still looking at me worried, but then Donald interrupted our little sort-of moment. "We're here," he snapped, and then he zapped us all to the next world.

When we touched down, all I knew was that my hat and glasses had been zapped off, just like in Atlantica. Luckily it was dark, but I still felt weird without them. I decided to look at my clothes last, instead staring at my friends…oh, and Donald. The duck in question was wrapped up in toilet paper like a mummy, and Goofy had a Frankenstein thing going on. Sora had a pumpkin clip in his hair, vampire fangs, and a REALLY cool outfit. Based on all that, I couldn't wait to see what I looked like, but before I could see we were steered ahead. My eyes narrowed suspiciously when I saw Sora biting back a laugh.

As soon as we walked into the square, we saw a bunch of ghost Heartless. We scooted a little closer, and suddenly—you won't believe this—they were _dancing._ Not very much, just swaying back and force. Then some guy with a top hat and two faces called, "And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares—Jack Skellington!"

The Heartless all did a little flourish, backing up, and then some skeleton guy in black clothes sort of…melted out of the green fountain. I wondered if there was a trap door. He struck a pose that looked way too cheery for a guy with no muscles. The two-faced man cheered, "Bravo, Jack, bravo! Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!"

"Thank you, thank you!" Jack replied humbly. "But their movement still needs work! It's not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror. I'm going to consult the doctor!"

"Then I'll going attend to the decorations!" the other mayor agreed heartily, prancing off to God knows where.

I exchanged a bemused look with Sora. "Is he making the Heartless…?" I asked, lips twitching up.

"Only one way to find out," he remarked. We set off after them, and eventually made our way to this big laboratory—and I found I couldn't move through.

I stood in the doorway, frozen, as they walked in. It took a second for them to realize I hadn't gone in with them, and when they did, Sora turned and motioned for me to enter. Instead, I took a step back. And it was at that moment I realized something. I wasn't just scared of the dark—I was scared of labs. Labs and scientists. Unfortunately, there was one of each right in front of me. So you can understand why I ran away.

Yes, I'm pathetic. Yes, it's stupid. You don't have to remind me. Can we just move on?

Anyways, before I was interrupted by my (cough) DEAREST readers, I was running away. I ran until I reached the fountain again, and then I vomited into it. After vomiting, I sat down and…well…I cried.

Looking back, I can't tell you why. I'm guessing hormones or whatever. Maybe it was just plain stress. But I was crying and—really weird, I know—my tears were BLACK. I think it had something to do with the world. But I figured, if I was so hormonal I was crying for no reason, obviously I was about to start getting self conscious, and THEN I was probably going to get random crushes. Cue my shudder.

After five-ish minutes of deep breathing exercises (and vomiting a bit more), Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the Jack guy came out. Sora ran over and knelt next to me. "Are you OK? he asked, frowned in a pouty sort of way.

"I'm fine," I assured him, getting up and smiling at Jack, who gasped and took a step back. I instantly checked my face in the green water, and surprisingly, it was exactly the same.

"You, my friend," he assured me, "are absolutely terrifying."

That was when Donald and Sora lost it.

They both just collapsed laughing, and I frowned at them before looking at my clothes and figuring out why. They hadn't changed AT ALL—still the same skull t-shirt and black jeans. I scowled before turning and checking my reflection again in the water, and was relieved to find that at least one thing other than my hat and sunglasses had changed—there was now a pin holding back my bangs in the shape of a Heartless sign.

"Oh, hilarious," I grumbled, turning back around where my so-called friends were falling all over themselves laughing. "Let's all have a laugh at Lexi, shall we?" Then my hormones (they really hated me that day) took over again and I stomped off to the direction Jack pointed me to, leaving them to scramble after me.

After getting surprise from the mayor, supposedly (I refused to enter the lab) we were supposed to find Sally for memory. After going through a gate, we find a girl all stitched up, bent over something. "Sally!" Jack called, walking up to her.

"Is something wrong, Jack?" she replied in a voice that was incredibly soft.

"No, everything's great!" he assured her. "We're going to have the best Halloween ever. All we need now is your memory."

"'Memory?' You mean this?" she asked, holding out a flower. I found myself staring as Jack nodded.

"Is that a forget-me-not?" I asked brightly, looking at her.

"Yes," she agreed.

Sora, on the other hand, was frowning. "How do you know that?"

I shifted uneasily. Normally, I probably wouldn't have told him, but my hormones had apparently decided to act incredibly stupid, because I found myself blurting, "When I was younger, I loved all types of flowers, and I still sort of have a thing for them."

"Ah." He grinned, and I couldn't help but feel a little bitter. Why was I the only one getting hormone attacks here?

"What do you mean, 'ah?'" I frowned.

"Nothing," he assured me, a stupid grin stretching across his face.

Sally watched our rambling for a moment with a funny expression, and then she turned to our new skeleton friend. "Jack, I have a bad feeling about this," she warned, brow furrowed. "Why don't you try something else? There's still time."

"Nothing could beat what I've got planned!" the skeleton grinned, holding the flower out in front of him. I found that I liked his energy. He turned back to Sally and said, "Once the Heartless have a heart, they'll dance exactly as I envision them to! Trust me. You're going to love it!"

_A heart…_

Why was I feeling funny? It's like there was something that I should get right away, but I couldn't. What was I missing?

_Love it…_

I began to feel woozy; my knees buckled beneath me. I saw Sora shouted and felt strong arms supporting me, and I saw a stupid white scowl right in front of me. I got the feeling that my hormone attacks weren't hormone attacks at all. What was going on?

_Sora…_

It was black. Everything was black, and I was falling, falling through an ocean, an ocean without water, an ocean where I could breathe…As I settled at the bottom, my hair barely floating onto my shoulders, I wasn't surprised at all that there weren't any sea animals or other people. It was just me, alone in this world…

_I'm sorry._

Suddenly, in a burst of white, they were flying; white doves right in front of me, travelling higher and higher in a never-ending arc, bursting out and, eventually, dissipating. I leaned forward slightly to see what they were hiding…and was horrified.

I was expecting brightness; some sort of neon color, or maybe white, like the doves. I guessed it had been that color at one time, but now it was faded, and cracking at the edges, like it had been badly made and was slowly eroding. What must've been beautiful colors had faded to only black, white, and grey, and worst of all was that I was on the picture. I was holding my new Keyblade—Dark Light—and I was, supposedly, sleeping peacefully. I had no glasses; I wore no hat. It was just…me. And it scared me to death, even worse than the dream from earlier.

A light started to shine in the middle, and I walked towards it.

_His path is set._

"Who's there?" I froze, taking a step backwards.

_But you have many choices._

"What are you talking about?" I demanded of the bodiless voice, disregarding the fact that it sounded so familiar…

_Light has only one path, and can cut through pure nothingness; sound, however, can bend, can go many places at once…the possibilities are endless._

A science lesson? Great. I collapse into some random person's arms, I hear voices, and all I get is a lecture on waves. I learned all this a year ago in class!

_Think on my words, child. And when you have decided…you may enter._

I had opened my mouth, but it was lost as about ten doors randomly came into existence all around me. There were some open spots, but I wasn't paying attention to those, because on each door, there were faces. And no, I'm not talking about faces little kids draw in permanent markers or stickers, or even pictures. It was 3D, and they all had faces of people I cared about—Sora, Anna, Kairi, Anthony…even my parents were there. And I realized something terrible.

_His path is set. _Sora must've gone through this too, but unlike me, he only had one door. He had a set path; mine needed to be chosen. _You may enter. _An even worse realization—I had to choose one.

I sat down and began my agonizing decision. The most obvious choice, of course, was Anthony—he was my true love, wasn't he? But I was feeling really attracted to the Sora door. We'd been through so much together, it wouldn't be fair to just leave him without help. And I had so many other people I wanted to protect; who would I choose?

_Sound can go many places at once._

I blinked. Wait a second. Wait a SECOND. Let's change this around a bit and switch out a couple of words. What'd that woman say? Alright. Let's get to the revised version. Sora has only one path, and can cut through pure nothingness (I got the feeling that this was a villain, but I didn't know who yet, so I let it slide); Lexi, however, can bend, can go many places at once…the possible outcomes are endless.

Yes! I'd figured out the code! Along with my victory came another door, this one with a musical note on it. Happily, I opened it, sure it would lead me in the right direction.

And it did. When I came out, I was on the same platform as before, but now it was perfect and brightly colored, and all around my head were pictures of my friends. Right above my head was a large music note.

_Ahead, you will face your greatest fears._

I looked down and, startled, found myself fading. My skin was flying like sand; slowly, I was becoming nonexistent.

_You were meant to walk this path, but it will not be an easy journey._

I tried to gasp, but my mouth wasn't there anymore. I was turning into darkness—I obviously wasn't human anymore.

_While others have the power of the light or dark, you have created a new power._

I couldn't think; I couldn't breathe. All I could do was listen to the voice, completely petrified.

_But always remember…_

I closed my eyes and wished that death would hurry up.

_You will always be loved._

* * *

When I woke up, I was in a life-sized board game.

Yeah, I know. I have a crazy, spiritual experience, in which I almost DIE, and then I wake up tied in rope, standing next to a talking sack who obviously didn't know the meaning of 'soap.' Sora and company were standing down there, and the guy was laughing like crazy as they dodged things like exploded dice.

I sighed. I always had to save the day, didn't I?

Slowly, I edged closer to the guy. Nobody noticed me, because Sora was trying to get up on the platform and The Sack was ordering some Heartless around. I got up right behind him, and then headbutted him. He fell flat on his face on the platform before us, and I watched from the floor (I fell down, too) as Sora tore him open and showed that he was made of bugs.

Now, I'm not weak hearted. But these insects were the grossest thing you could imagine—covered in slime and stomach acid and all that—and when some of them came towards me, I kind of started freaking out. I flailed around so much that I rolled onto the lower platform, and Sora, being the graceful being he was, didn't catch me, so I hit my face on the floor.

"Smooth," I complained, scowling.

"Sorry," he apologized, hastily untying the ropes so that I could stand, rubbing the burn marks on my wrist. "What happened to you? You just collapsed back there, and then you disappeared while we were taking you to the lab."

"I don't know," I replied, but inwardly I was completely confused. Had the door led me to the spot that I was needed? If I'd gone through another door, where would it have taken me? I turned my attention back to the anxious brunette. "I had this really weird dream, though…"

Sora opened his mouth to reply, but we were rushed out by Donald and Goofy. Then something hit me in the back of the head and it all went black.

* * *

"Oh, come on!"

I was currently pouting in a seat of the gummy ship. Donald was scowling at me, Goofy was giving me a kind look, and Sora was concentrating on driving. Somehow, I had managed to collapse AGAIN and miss the huge battle. I pouted. "I never get to do the fun stuff," I complained.

"Hey," Donald snapped. "Talk about missing fun things! You're always off in your own world, and if something huge did happen, you'd completely miss it!"

"Hey!" I defended. "I can be ADD sometimes, OK?"

Sora's hand brushed my arm, and I looked up to find him looking at me, a soft smile on his face. "At least you're safe," he offered. "Besides, if you were that tired, it's a good thing that you could sleep for a while. You've been overexerting yourself lately."

"Ah…" I was obviously confused by his strange behavior. "Thanks…?"

He seemed to realize what he'd done, and his head whirled forward, face turning tomato red. "N-no problem," he replied shakily.

I stared at him for a moment before sitting back in my seat, a soft frown on my face, thinking about a very strange concept.

Did Sora…like me…?

* * *

My only excuse for not updating: I didn't realize how long it had been since my last update. No, seriously. I thought I updated at most a week and a half ago, and then I looked at the 'updated' and thought "Holy crap!" That's the main reason this chapter was so dramatic—I figured that, after making you all wait so long, it wouldn't be fair to give you a normal chapter. AND, in order to avoid slow updates again, I will officially update either every Saturday or every 2 Saturdays! (Depending on my schedule each week.)

OK, random poll-ish thing: What's your favorite pairing so far in here? (Yes, this includes things like SoKai and other canon things.) All right. Now how many of you are going crazy wondering when Lexi and Sora are FINALLY going to confess?

Oh, and I officially have plans for every single KH game planned out. Yes, this includes BBS. Actually, I'm REALLY looking forward to BBS, so I hope you all actually want me to do it!

**Thanks to:**

**Those who favorited/alerted this story:**

Honestly? I've been doing this manually, and I don't have a clue who I've already said and who I haven't. SO, since we're about halfway through the story, as a little mid-way gift, here are ALL of the names!

**Favorited:**

A hurricane of words

Angie-ange

BehindBeautifulEyes

Bubbles of Ebil

Crimson Solitude of the Moon

icekitsune11

kingdomdisney

Lele-the-Greek-Geek

Luthien Eriol

mysteriousguy898

Pomegranata

TheKeeperofKingdomHearts1

werewolf-girl13

**Alerted:**

Angie-ange

Bloody'n'ScarredHitomi

Bubbles of Ebil

DarkRiddlesDestiny

Edward Cullen's Girl

icekitsune11

iSeaSalt Ice-cream

kingdomdisney

Lele-the-Greek-Geek

Nevergonnafitin

Outre

Pomegranata

Ruciro Katsura

TheAbster

**Review responses:**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: I know! I wonder if the second book will be about Percy at the Roman camp, or how they find Percy…?

Aw, I want to go to Disney Land! I think they're pretty similar, actually.

Nomura said (I think) that, since we've already fought the Heartless and Nobody, all that's left is Xehanort. It's going to be awesome!

Yeah, Lexi's weird like that. :D

mysteriousguy898: Thanks! And thanks for pointing that out (typo), I fixed it. I know there's about 50, but tell me when you see them, OK? One of, but Neverland WILL be incredibly fun. :D

Pomegranata: Awesome! I applaud you for finally getting your own account!

Well, thanks! It was fun to destroy the whole dramaticness, especially since this chapter is basically the most dramatic EVER.

SWIRL3Y's gone away on a 3-month trip. :( It's so sad! I miss her stories! Oh, my ending: I LOST THE GAME!

kingdomdisney: I didn't. I really wish Pocahontas had ended up with John Smith. But you have your opinion, and I have mine.

That's EVERYONE'S favorite world!

Bubbles of Ebil: I'm sorry if I accidentally made you explode with my slow-ness. D:

BehindBeautifulEyes: I know. Took me forever to think of. I hope you like her Halloween Town 'outfit.' Ah…really bad pun right there, but don't worry, I won't pull a Lexi on you and freak out! Oh, I'm going to have SO MUCH FUN with the KH2 plotline, it's inhuman.

A hurricane of words: I'll be sure to tell them that.

Random Fan: Thank you! Yes, Lexi is very spazzy. I'm glad you noticed. :D


	13. Believe

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 13: Believe**

"Pirate ship ahoy!" I reported, leaning forward in my seat.

"No way," Sora frowned, leaning inwards. Unfortunately, there was a ship, and even worse, it was coming straight at us. Sora scrambled for the controls, trying to dodge out of the way, but 'twas (don't you just love words like 'twas and 'tis and all that?) in vain, and we were pretty much sucked into the ship.

"Why are we CONSTANTLY crashing into new worlds?" I yelled as we fell. After a second of silence, I sighed and called, "I thought we got over this whole 'ignore Lexi' thing!"

As nobody responding, I found myself continuing to wait for impact. When I didn't feel myself hit anything solid—nothing but my hands, anyways—I let one eye slide open, and then gasped and closed it again, which might've killed me. You know that weird, long, stick-ish thing that's on a ship that hangs out over the water on one edge and doesn't have any real purpose? Yeah? Anyone know the name? Well, that's what I was hanging from. If I hadn't been holding on with one hand, I would've plunged straight into the icy water.

From my angle, I could see Sora sitting on the deck, but not Donald and Goofy. "HEY!" I called to him, and he jumped up, looking around. I would've waved my hands, but I probably would've fallen, so I settled for yelling, "OVER HERE, DORK!" He turned and finally saw me, running over before stopping uncertainly. There wasn't all that much that he could do, because crawling out and grabbing me would've involved risking his own life, and I didn't want that.

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora," a new voice called, spitting his name out with contempt. We both looked up to find a few unexpectedly familiar faces. "Good to see you again," Riku nodded, Anna standing uncomfortably next to his stone-cold glare. She obviously didn't like what was happening.

"Where are Donald and Goofy?" Sora called with a frown. Neither Riku nor Anna seemed to notice my existence at the moment, so I was awkwardly trying to swing myself onto the top of the thingy-ma-bob so that I could crawl onto the deck.

"Are they that important to you?" Riku replied with half of a frown. "More important than old friends? Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking…" he stepped out of the way to reveal two rather comatose figures. "…about her."

"Kairi!" Sora called, sounding worried. But I wasn't focused on her.

"ANTHONY!" I yelled, finally finding the strength to flip onto the top and crawl, inch by inch, towards the deck. Meanwhile, everyone was staring at me, and Anna looked a little…relieved? Pleased? I honestly couldn't tell.

"Man of the bowsprit!" a nasally voice yelled. Oh, so that's what this thing was called.

Riku blinked and returned his gaze to Sora, who looked at him, too. Only Anna had her eyes glued to me with something like hope in them. "That's right," Riku said smugly. "While you were off goofing around, we finally found them."

Sora ran forward with a determined expression, but a hook bared his way. "Not so fast!" said an angry-looking pirate with a black mustache and an uber-big hat.. "No shenanigans aboard my vessel, boy!"

"Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?" Sora asked desperately. In the meantime, I was frantically urging Anna via telepathy. (Well…not really telepathy. Anna and I are just really close, I guess.)

_Remember that conversation!_ I insisted.

Her eyes screwed up. _What conversation?_

_With that boy you thought was hot. When we first picked you up!_

Her eyes widened, and I nodded happily. And, for the first time, she smiled. She remembered.

_"I'm searching, too."_

_"For your light? Don't lose sight of it."_

_I won't lose sight, _Anna promised, and I grinned.

"You're stupid!" Sora called, and suddenly I burst out laughing, which caused everyone to stare at me (again).

"Ha ha ha! A ha…ha ha ha…AUGH!" I clung to the bowsprit as I rolled over and was, once again, acting sloth-like and hanging by my hands. I cursed softly before calling, "Sorry. Near-death stuff makes me act kind of weird."

Sora nodded before turning back to Riku as I struggled to right myself. "Sooner or later, they'll swallow your heart," he frowned.

"Not a chance," Riku argued dully. "My heart's too strong."

"Riku…" Sora called softly, but another, more feminine voice interrupted him.

"Riku," Anna said, touching his shoulder lightly. He jerked as if electrified, and then he turned to her. "We have to go check in." Riku nodded before turning back. I could tell he believed her, but I didn't—there was a bit of mischief in her eyes, something that just left her untrustable.

This was why she was my best friend.

"I've picked up a few other tricks as well. Like this, for instance," Riku smirked, raising a hand. I, who had been making my way down the long stick, jumped on deck just in time to see a black, almost exact copy of Sora shoot from the ground. I ran forward to be next to them.

"You can go see your friends now," he commented as if holding back bitter laughter. A trap door opened beneath us, and we fell into darkness.

"You don't say?" Goofy smiled.

"Yeah, it was definitely Kairi," Sora agreed with a grin. "I've finally found her."

"Anthony, too!" I agreed happily. For probably the first time the entire trip, I felt ecstatic. I wanted to jump, dance, sing, run, and all those other cheesy things that people do. My smile stretched from ear to ear. "He looks exactly like I remember!"

"All right!" Goofy chuckled. "Then let's go up and talk to them!"

"Yeah!" Sora and I agreed simultaneously.

"Sounds great," Donald nodded. "Okay, but first…"

"…how about getting off!"

"Oh," chuckled Sora, who was on top of the giant dog pile. Donald was at the bottom, And I was sandwiched between Sora and Goofy above him. "Sorry."

After we all got untangled, Sora jumped up to look out the window, and we had a cough from behind the boxes. "KYAH!" I yelled, pointing Lock and Key at them dramatically and earning a couple of raised eyebrows from Sora and company. Being happy makes me hyper, OK?

"How ya doin' there?" asked a boy's voice, sounding unafraid. "Looking for a way out?"

Then he flew—literally FLEW—out from behind the barrels, and landed easily on his feet. "Who are you?" Goofy asked.

"I'm the answer to your prayers," he grinned in reply.

"That," I decided, "was the absolute worst pick up line ever."

The boy's eyebrows rose. "It wasn't a pick up line."

"It sure sounded like one," I shot back.

"Obviously, your hearing needs checked," he nodded.

I don't know why, but that hit a nerve—suggesting that I had a disability. I scowled and decided that I officially did not like this guy, but before I could chew him out, a little beam of light sparked in. "Tinker Bell, what took you so long?" he asked, eyebrows raised. And then the ball of light _ding_ed into a little blonde fairy. Apparently it was speaking, because this guy was talking to it. "Great job! So you found Wendy?" A pause. "Hold on. There was another girl there, too? And a boy?" Another pause. "Are you crazy? There is no way I'm gonna leave Wendy there!"

"Who's Wendy?" I smirked. "You're girlfriend?"

"Who are you?" he shot back, motioning to Sora. "His girlfriend?"

I turned beet red, but before I could respond, Donald grinned at the fairy. "Aha! She must be pretty jealous!"

The fairy must have been angry, because it flew over and bopped Donald in the beak. I laughed, which of course netted me a glare. Then the fairy flew out, and the boy called, "Come on, Tink! Open up the door!"

Sora coughed, and the boy turned back to us. "What happened to being the answer to our prayers?" I asked, hands on hips, a cynical smile on my face.

"That was lost just like your sense of fashion," he replied with a smirk. I stuck my tongue out at him, and he stuck out his hand in Sora's direction. "I'm Peter Pan."

"I'm Sora," Sora agreed, reaching out to take it, but Peter withdrew before he could.

"Okay," he said unhappily, "we're in this together, but only 'til we find Wendy!"

We all then proceeded to jump, run, push, and shove our way out of the room and into the hall, talking the entire way. "Hey, pig face," I called.

"That's the stupidest nickname ever, Goth girl," Peter replied.

"I'm deeply wounded," I replied, rolling my eyes. "If Wendy isn't your girlfriend, then who is she?"

"She's a girl who tells stories," he replied with a silly grin that reminded me of Sora. No wonder they were getting along.

"So, uh," Goofy interrupted us, making us turn to look at him, "how come you can fly?"

"Anyone can fly," he replied, beaming. "You wanna try?" We stopped walking, and he whistled. Enter the jealous fairy! "Ah, haven't you cooled off yet, Tink?" Peter asked, sounding almost amused. Then he grabbed the back of her wing before flying over and sprinkling some dust that made me sneeze. "Just a little bit of pixie dust! There, now you can fly!"

"I volunteer Donald to go first," I offered, poking the duck so hard, he jumped straight up. After a moment of flapping his arms pathetically, he hit the ground face-first. Tink and I laughed, and then she flew up and gave my index finger a high five.

"What is it, Tink?" Peter frowned suddenly, hovering higher than the rest of us and looking through a sort of see-through fiber.

"Peter?" asked a voice with an English accent. "Peter Pan?"

"Wendy!" Peter replied as a kind of pretty girl's face leaned in towards him.

"Please hurry!" she requested. "The pirates are coming!"

"What?" Peter scowled. "I'll be right up there! Just hold on!"

"Wendy?" Sora called tentatively. "Is there another girl in there with you? Or a boy?" he added at my rather un-subtle nudge.

"Oh, why, yes," she replied, and my heart leapt. "But they seem to be asleep. They haven't budged an inch."

"Kairi?" Sora called, standing right under her.. "Kairi!"

I felt a little helpless just standing there, so I reached up towards Kairi and Anthony—my friend and my crush. Sora reached for Kairi, and her hand twitched, making Sora grin and laugh a little. I reached desperately, but nothing happened. "Anthony…" I whispered, and suddenly, I was intensely depressed. I let my hand dropped, but then his hand twitched, and just as quickly as depression, I was elated.

"Not your girlfriend, huh?" I asked Peter smugly, grinning.

"Shut up," he scowled in reply.

"Ah!" I looked up at Sora's cry to see Anthony and Kairi being dragged out of the room. "No!" I called, running forward, but it was too late. Wendy gave a cry of her own, and then no one was in the room.

I'd gone from depressed to elated to murderous within a minute. That couldn't be good for my health. "Kuso!" I yelled, banging my hands against the wall. There was a moment of silence before I blinked and muttered to myself, "What the heck did I just say?"

"Lexi?" Sora was staring at me like I'd just sprouted a third eye. "Did you just curse in Japanese?"

"I—I guess," I replied baffled. "I don't remember ever hearing the word before."

But then…a distant memory. It was foggy, but it was definitely there, and it came back.

_"You're taking Japanese at school? That's so incri…incer…good!"_

_"You would think that, Alexandra. Here, let me teach you a couple of words. You say 'kuso' when you're angry, okay?"_

_"Okay, Caden!"_

I blinked as I came back to the present. Who was Caden?

I didn't have time to think about it, because Sora and Peter had managed to find their way into another room, and I was forced to scramble up after them. It turned out that it was the captain's cabin, because it was pretty luxurious. "Riku, wait!" Sora called, and I stopped staring at the stuff to see a silverette carry Kairi bridal style and Anthony slung over his shoulder. I didn't have a clue where Anna was, and I opened my mouth to ask, but Riku raised a hand and then the Heartless-y Sora sprung out of the ground. He made his getaway.

Sora, obviously, couldn't fight his copy—neither of them was doing any damage. They knew each other's moves exactly, could predict when to block, and when their Keyblades met, their strength was pretty much equal. So I intervened. While Sora was keeping it occupied in the front, I slashed it in the back. It whirled around, and I got my blade ready, scowling. It was _on_.

I'm not going to go into details, but I will tell you my strategy. The real Sora pretty much knew my strategy by this time, so I had to completely change it. I went completely berserk—the poor thing didn't know what hit it.

As the thing was sucked into the ground, I coughed. "Well," I grinned at Sora, "now we know who'd win in a fight."

"Shut up," he grumbled, and I laughed as we continued.

"Wendy!" Peter called as we made it into the room. "Come on, Tink! Not now!" he complained when said fairy flew around his head, waving her away. He picked Wendy up. "This is as far as I can go. I've gotta help Wendy!"

"And he says they're not dating," I grumbled as he flew away. We didn't really have a goal after that, so I just starting wondering about Caden, if that was the person's name. Who are they? How did I know them? And did she have anything to do with my dream the other day?

"KYAH!" I yelled (again) as I fell face first onto the deck. I looked up to find the way-too-close face of the one pirate with a moustache.

"Quite a codfish, that Riku," the captain grinned evilly. "Running off with that girl without even saying good-bye."

Honestly? I was not ready to deal with this. I was tired, I'd just gone through about 50 mood swings, and I hadn't eaten or used the bathroom since this trip began. And on top of all that, I was feeling a little sick. So I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Your face!"

"What?" he replied, looking startled.

"I lost the game!" I replied, grinning innocently. Obviously, my brain was malfunctioning.

Did anyone ever tell you how much fun going crazy is?

Sora sighed, walked over and, grabbing my shirt, dragged me back to where he was previously standing, leaving Goofy to fuss over me as he continued his heroic monologue. "Where did he go?"

The old man blinked before gathering himself and replying. Nice to know how unnerving I was. "To the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent resides. But you won't be going there."

"Says you!" I accused in reply. Goofy shushed me.

He grinned evilly and pulled out a small bird cage, which held a little fairy in it. "Do you intend to leave your friend here, then?" he asked, tapping Tink's cage. Sora gasped and, after a moment, let his Keyblade disappear. "Hand over the Keyblade, and I'll spare your lives!" he ordered. "Be glad I'm merciful, unlike the Heartless. So, which will it be? The Keyblade or the plank?"

"It doesn't work like that, stupid," I scowled. I had regained enough of my sanity that he was ticking me off. "You can't just give a Keyblade away!"

Suddenly, there was a _tick_-ing sound. For a moment, I thought it was this one video I saw on YouTube about puppet pals or something, but then the captain looked over and gasped. "It's him! It's the crocodile that took me hand!"

"At least use correct grammar," I grumbled, irritated.

He ignored me. "Oh, Smee!" he cried. "He's after me other hand! I can't stay here!" He took a step back, frightened. "Go away! Oh, I can't stand the sight of him! You take care of them, Smee!"

He thrust Tinker Bell into Smee's hands and then scampered to the captain's cabin like the wimp he was. After that, Smee's Heartless buddies forced Sora and me (why at the same time? I may never know) onto the plank. Sora had to support me, because even if I wasn't loopy anymore, I wasn't completely stable. We made our way uneasily backwards until we were at the edge of the plank, me balanced precariously on the edge, about to fall into the ocean.

"Fly, Sora, Lexi! Just believe, and you can do it!"

"If this doesn't work, I'll kill you," I muttered before Sora and I both fell backwards. It exhilarating and terrifying and the same time.

Even worse? I couldn't fly.

Does this stuff always happen to me? It's like I have a list. Yell randomly at friends? Check. Fall onto distant world? Check. Almost get eaten by a crocodile? Check, check, and check. It was getting annoying to have to deal with bad luck all of the time. But luckily, before I could actually die, Sora grabbed my shirt and dragged me upwards with him. I was clinging tightly to his neck, and I couldn't swear to it, but I think he was blushing.

We landed on the deck next to Peter, who was letting Tink out of her cage. "Thanks, Peter," Sora offered.

"Hey, don't mention it. You didn't think I'd leave you and Tink behind, did you?" He turned to me with a smirk. "I thought he wasn't your boyfriend."

"I thought Wendy wasn't your girlfriend," I argued.

"…Touché."

Smee, the wimp, had run out of the way so his miniature army of Heartless could take us on. Of course, because of my absolutely FABULOUS fighting skills, we won.

OK, Sora's giving me the evil eye, so I guess I should mention that he might've helped A LITTLE in my super awesome rage.

Where were we? Oh, yeah. So anyways, after we defeated the pirate Heartless, we stood outside the captain's door quietly and Peter knocked. "Is that you, Smee?" he called from within. "Did you finish them off?"

We all snickered at each other before Peter held his nose and used a perfect imitation of the nasal voice. "Ay, captain. They walked the plank, every last one of them."

The captain burst out, searching frantically back and forth. Peter snuck up and poked him with a sword, making him jump and turn. "P-p-Peter Pa—Blast you!"

"Ready to make a splash, you codfish?" he replied with a grin. "Now it's your turn to walk the plank!"

After hearing the stunningly brave fighting word 'codfish', we launched into an epic battle that, no doubt, will be talked about decades after I die. And, of course, we won, sending the 'Captain' off the boat, scurrying away from the tick-ing crocodile. Then Tink talked to Peter about going to the clock—and I saw something.

"You all go ahead," I assured them, waving them off. "It's not like I'm going anywhere. I'll still be here when you get back."

Sora still refused to pull his arm from it's rather comfortable, overprotective position on my shoulder, but I pushed him towards Peter. After they all flew off, I leaned over the edge of the boat before sighing.

_I'm crazy ,_I decided before plunging into the ocean below and searching for the glinting thing I'd seen earlier. I found it quickly—a rock with some silver-ish thing on it. I touched it, and it glowed for a moment before turning into a Keyhole. I quickly fumbled with Lock and Key before sealing it. Only then did I realize how deep down it was, and how quiet, and how lifeless…

I tried swimming upwards, but I couldn't tell which way was upwards, and I was pretty sure I was swimming in circles. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think…and then I let go…

And then I died.

* * *

Merry belated Christmanukwanzica and happy New Year. :) It's too late for me to respond (I'm exhausted!), so I'll respond to all of last chapter's stuff next chapter, OK? And put up alerts and favs and such.


	14. Memories

I own nothing.

WARNING: (For you OCD people who I love anyways.) One cuss word.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 14: Memories**

…well, not literally.

I scared a couple of you, didn't I? Well, if anybody's actually reading this. I mean, how could I have written this if I had actually DIED? Are you all CRAZY?

And for those of you who had faith…you know me WAAAY too well.

But anyways, I didn't drown or go the Pearly Gates or anything. Physically, nothing happened except me almost drowning. It was my soul that died a little bit. Why? Because I had a pretty random vision that brought me near tears.

_"It was reckless to bring them here without at least using a vessel," Maleficent ordered a panting Riku. Kairi was discarded behind me, and I quietly moved into an overprotective position, because that's what I was meant to do—protect her. Right? Anna was next to him, a hand on his shoulder. That reminded me—she still thought I was asleep. I would have to tell her when I got the chance. "Remember, relying too heavily on the dark powers could cost you your heart."_

_There was a sudden large growl, and it took all of my willpower not to jump and scream. Riku himself jumped up and turned. "A castaway," Maleficent dismissed. Riku turned back to her, trying to look as if he hadn't been surprised. Anna grinned. Obviously, Lexi had helped her. I wish I could've told her, but it had been impossible. "Though his world perished, his heart did not. When we took the princess from his castle, he apparently followed her hear out of sheer force of will. But fear not. No harm will come to you. He is no match for your power."_

_My face abruptly when from sleepily calm to terrified until it forced it back to sleepy. No. Riku wasn't meant to be used this way. If she'd told me anything, this was it…Riku isn't supposed to walk the path of darkness. I continued to listen, becoming more and more horrified as time went on. My eyes were in slits so that I could see. "My power?" Riku frowned._

No, _I thought, but it was useless. Maleficent continued. "Yes, the untapped power that lies within you. Now, child, it's time you awakened that power and realized your full potential."_

_A bright green light began glowing around Riku, and he took a deep breath, drinking it in._

_"NO!"_

_Riku had toppled over, the weight of my cousin too much for him. She was sobbing in the shocked silence. "Riku, don't," she begged. "This isn't right! Your heart's going to be swallowed…don't do this!"_

_Riku looked surprised to see Anna crying into his shirt. His face twisted into a semi-concerned expression, but Maleficent just stared at her in disgust. The witch snapped her fingers, and instantly Anna was silenced and floating in midair, tears streaming down her face. She turned her wrist, and Anna convulsed, trying to scream, but no sound coming out. Riku was watching, horrified and stunned._

_"STAY AWAY FROM MY COUSIN!"_

_Without realizing it, I'd stood and run towards the green woman, intending to hurt her as much and as hard as possible, with or without my blade. She was so surprised I actually had time to summon my blade (seeing it stunned her even more) and even landed a few good hits, making her stumble backwards. Then she roared and gave me the same treatment as Anna, but I didn't feel any pain. Unlike my cousin, who had been weak and taken by surprise, I was ready and fighting back. "STAY AWAY FROM HER," I yelled through the spell. "DON'T EVER TOUCH HER AGAIN!"_

_Maleficent's eyebrows rose before she grinned maliciously. Riku looked just plain appalled. "Well," she mused, "I'll just have to eliminate her then."_

_"NOOO!" I was thrashing wildly through the invisible bonds, trying to use the blade for a spell, preferably a killing one._

_"Well, then," she nodded, satisfied. "It's your turn to serve me…"_

_"…Heartblade wielder."_

I had been in Anthony's mind, I was positive. Which meant that…he had a Heartblade? What? I surfaced in an underwater cave-thingy. After shaking myself off and sitting on a rock, I groaned, running my hand through my hair. This was a disaster. At least one thing was settled; I had to find them. Maleficent…the ruins of Hollow Bastion, Captain Hook had said. Well, I had a destination. I shakily stood and splashed my way for about two steps before falling, face first.

Who was I kidding? I had no transportation, no food, and I'd probably drown if I tried to surface. What I needed now was someone who could somehow get to worlds on their own, someone who could provide me with the materials I needed who wasn't captured yet. Someone who had extensive knowledge of Hollow Bastion…

Someone…whose name started with B…and who was walking toward me right now.

"Broderick!" I called, standing unexpectedly.

"It's Alex," he replied, trying to act irritated but obviously pleased. I gasped and glomped him. "Hey—hey, Lexi, you're—ow! That hurts—Lexi, I—can't—breathe!"

I laughed and stood, letting him stand from my major bear hug. "It's so great to see you!" I squealed in a slightly out of character way, hugging him. He tensed, but when he saw that I wasn't going to sprain his back again (is that even possible?), he relaxed and wrapped his arms around me. I pulled away, grinning up at him. "'You're just the person I wanted to see!"

"I guess I should feel loved," he replied dryly.

"Alright," I declared. "Question time!"

"Questions?" He smiled without humor. "Oh, no. I just wanted to see you again before I died."

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

As Sora and friends alighted upon the boat deck, he frowned, looking around. "Hey, where is she? She said she'd stay right here!"

"Maybe she got something to eat," Goofy suggested.

"She's never serious," Donald grumbled.

Peter, on the other hand, was listening to Tink's report. "What? You have to be joking! No way!"

"What is it?" Sora frowned, looking at him.

Peter looked shocked. "Tink says that as we were leaving, she dived into the water!"

"WHAT?" the other three yelled in unison.

He nodded in agreement. "Apparently, she went pretty deep down, too. I wonder…" he stared at it testily. "What if she's still down there?"

Sora felt like screaming. He couldn't leave for five minutes without Lexi getting in trouble, could he? He stared over the edge, but the water was clear. Anything living had long since been eradicated.

Or had died.

"Maybe she came up and went to another world without us," Goofy suggested. It was a plausible theory, but Sora wasn't reassured. If Lexi was still down there…if she had died…

How could he ever forgive himself?

He should've insisted she came along. He should've grabbed her arm and flown her to the clock tower with him, no matter how much she protested. Maybe then…she would've lived.

But she was alive. He had to believe that, or he'd drive himself absolutely crazy. He took a deep breath and gave them an obviously fake smile. "Yeah," he said carelessly. "I bet we'll see her again when we go to Traverse Town."

It was then that Sora realized a very important fact.

He was in love with Lexi Meyers.

* * *

"What do you mean, die?" I scowled.

"What does it sound like?" he snorted. "Ending my life. Moving on. Going towards the light."

"No!" I replied desperately, latching onto his arm and staring up at him with big, watery eyes.

What happened to my hat and sunglasses? Well, unlike every other book and movie heroine, they floated off in the water, so I was left accessory-less. But anyway.

So yeah. Big, watery eyes. "Don't go kill yourself or something!" I pleaded. "Why would you do that? I care about you!"

"You don't even know me," he muttered in reply, trying to get out of my grasp unsuccessfully.

"Of course I do!" I frowned. What did he mean, I didn't get him? He was my brother!

"NO, YOU DON'T!"

I guess that was the last straw, because he had whirled to face me, obviously furious. "YOU DON'T KNOW ME AT ALL!" he yelled in my face. "I'VE ALWAYS BEEN COVERING FOR YOU, AND WHEN I NEED YOUR HELP YOU JUST SIT BACK AND DO NOTHING! AND THEN, WHEN I'M DOING SOMETHING THAT I HAVE THOUGHT THROUGH A MILLION TIMES, YOU TELL ME I CHOSE WRONG! YOU DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT ME! GET THE HELL AWAY!"

I was frozen, silent tears streaming down my face. He finally jerked his arm out of my grasp and walked forwards to go back wherever he came from.

"But…I love you."

He turned around, and I could tell my face was completely distraught. It's not like I'm an easy crier, nor do I usually get overemotional, but this was too much. I didn't even have the energy to be angry at him. I put everything I had into everything I did, and then I mess up. Sometimes, like this, I don't even know what I did, but I did it. It's mildly depressing to get yelled at like that by someone you love, in case you don't know.

God, I feel like such a girl.

For a moment, his face contorted into something like concern, but I just shook my head, wiping the tears off. I wasn't weak. I could be strong and get through this. And if I had to cry, I'd do it alone. "Fine," I said bitterly. "Fine. If you want to go break the heart of your sister, the person who loves you most in the whole universe, and get yourself killed in the process. Fine. Obviously, I won't be able to stop you."

"Lexi…" he said softly, and what he said next shocked me even more. "I'm…not your brother."

I stared at him, completely confused. My jaw had sincerely dropped. "_What?_" I demanded. "Of course you are! You lived with me for years, and you've always teased me, and…and…!" He was shaking his head, and I was becoming desperate for more reasons. "But we even look alike! Look! Our hair is the exact same shade of black!"

"Lexi," Alex said quietly, stepping towards me. "Listening to me. What is your full name?"

I hiccupped before replying, "A-Alexandra."

"And what's my name?" he continued gently.

"Alex…Alex…Alexandra? But…that doesn't make any sense! W-why is your real name so close to m-mine?" I frowned, tears and hiccups interrupting my speech.

He touched my hand, and I convulsed. Then I fell on the ground and saw something that would forever change my life.

…not like it hadn't been changed forever anyways, but you get the point.

DANG IT, I'm a hormonal teenager!

* * *

"She's not here," Sora said softly, slouching down. Donald and Goofy came up to him, panting. Moments previously, Sora had been sprinting through Traverse Town, yelling Lexi's name as loud as possible. Now he was completely and utterly depressed. What if she had really died?

No. He just figured out his feelings for her; she was NOT going to die before he could express them!

"Sora!" Donald warned

"Now, just remember what Donald said to ya," Goofy assured him. "No frowning, no sad faces."

"How can you be so cheerful?" Sora complained. "There's still no sign of your king. Aren't you worried?"

"Aw, phooey," Donald pouted in reply.

"The king told us to go out and find the key bearers, and we found you," Goofy smiled. "So as long as we stick together, it'll all turn out okay. Ya just gotta believe in yourself, that's all."

"Just believe…" Sora frowned. That's what everyone was telling him. But what if he couldn't believe?

"I believe in you."

And then Sora was taken into Kairi's memory.

* * *

It was a memory. Even weirder, it was MY memory. But…I wasn't myself. I mean, I was myself, but I wasn't younger me, I was just watching younger me. I was kind of…you know…floating above the scene?

I (my small self) was sighing and walking down a road, eyebrows creased into a frown. I was in jeans and a purple heart t-shirt, and a green backpack was strewn onto my back. My hair was behind my ears, but what made we wonder were my _eyes_. Instead of being brown, they were pure amber, and light was dancing through them.

I was staring at the sidewalk, walking like I was on a tightrope, when suddenly something crazy caught my (normal me, not mini-me) attention. A large spaceship-ish thing was flying through a vortex, which closed behind it. Two people jumped off of it, one clinging to the other for dear life. After a moment, their armor flew off and the spaceship turned into…was that a Keyblade?

"Is she here?" the girl muttered, not relinquishing her death grip. He blushed.

"Ah…does she have black hair?" he frowned in reply. His eyes were exactly the same as Sora's and stuck up in a similarly gravity-defying way.

"That's what she says," the girl agreed before calling, "Lexi!"

Miniature me froze and then turned around before squealing "Caden!" and bouncing on her. She laughed, and my normal self float-flied forward to get a closer look at her.

Her hair was black, too, but wild and unkempt, as if she hadn't bothered with it for weeks. She was wearing jeans and an orange t-shirt. Her eyes were amber like mine, but hers were slightly off focus, as if she couldn't really see through them.

"Have you grown?" Caden mused. "I can't tell."

I (small me—this is confusing!) laughed as she set me down, jumping and whirling in place. "Mom says I've grown a full inch!" I replied proudly.

She laughed. "I can tell," she agreed. "I'd say you're up to my belly button now!"

The boy was just kind of standing out of the way, but with a start, she remembered his existence. "Lexi," she grinned, "this is my friend, Ventus. He's helped me out of some tight spots."

Mini-me was, of course, immediately suspicious. "Are you two dating?" I frowned. "Because daddy says that your boyfriends aren't allowed to come into the house."

Caden seemed amused, but Ventus was blushing. I wondered how she could be blind enough not to see that he liked her.

…wait a second. Blind?

"I'm just a friend," Ventus assured me(you know what? Screw it. I'm referring to small me as 'Lexi' from now on) with a smile. Lexi grinned back up at him.

"Did Luna tell you he looked like Orlando Bloom?" She grinned.

Caden and Ventus both started gaping. "No," Caden finally decided. "No, she didn't."

"Thank you!" Ventus whispered to Lexi.

"Five dollars, please," she replied behind her hand.

Wow. Even when I was FOUR, I was awesome!

He grumbled a little but handed her the money. "So," she asked eagerly. "How long is he staying?"

Caden and Ventus shared a guilty look. "Well…" Caden replied hesitantly. "We actually just dropped in to see how things are doing. We need to leave, like, right now."

"What?" Lexi was completely distressed, but Ventus had a look that said _I have a plan, and it's AWESOME._

"Hey," he offered, crouching to Lexi's level. "I've got a way we'll always be connected."

"Really?" she replied, excited.

He nodded, summoning his Keyblade. He reached it out towards me, and I took a hesitant step back. "Just touch it," he encouraged. After a moment, I did.

"That's it," he grinned, standing. "We'll be connected forever in our hearts."

I beamed at him before wrapping myself around my sister's leg. "You'll come back, right?"

"I promise I will," she replied with a smile.

Then the two walked off together, and I awoke from my memory with a start, finding myself on the cold cave floor. By then, I had realized two things.

The first was that I had just witnessed how I got the Keyblade. I was connected to Ventus now, just as much as Sora was connected to…whoever had given him his Keyblade. And that, therefore, had connected me to Caden, maybe even more than to him. And second…

That had been the last time I had ever seen my sister.

* * *

GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT?

Today's my birthday!

Yes, that is the reason I am updating today rather than tomorrow. It's also the reason I decided to give away so much info—'cause I'm in a good mood. And you know what you all could give me as presents? Reviews! So please, please, PLEAAASE review this story, OK? Even if you hate it, just knowing that you bothered to read it is awesome.

And, explaining the information, yes, that's how she and Sora dream together. They're both connected to Ventus's heart, which has bonded them more tightly than any paopu fruit ever could. Oh, and the Sora thing? Yeah. I'm just too lazy to write Kairi's light/darkness memory.

**Thanks to those who:**

**Alerted(Last and this chapter):**

LilPadfootChicky

burry and bunny

Nevergonnafitin

Platypus lass

TheBeginingsEnd

TheKeeperofKingdomHearts1

**Faved(Last and this chapter):**

SkyeRockette

burry and bunny

Hoshiakari Mitsukai

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**Review responses(Last and this chapter):**

Lele-the-Greek-Geek: Merry belated Christmas to you, too!

Yeah, my first thought was, 'Holy crap, Aphrodite set this up' when I finally figured it out.

Wiki is awesome. NO WAY! I have to go buy Coded!

Namixas is my favorite, too. But Sorie(Sora/Marie) is AWESOOOME! I can't wait until SWIRL3Y gets back!

Yeah, of course I'd just randomly kill off the random main character. Nah, you know me too well to believe that. XD

BehindBeautifulEyes: The chocolate Spongebob guy = COMPLETE AWESOME EPICNESS!

I'm glad I made a dull day instead of just meeting expectations of a good day.

Thank you! I'm glad to know that my writing can capture you like that. Way to make me feel special!

And I agreed, you DID need a fast update to make up for it.

A hurricane of words: Aw, man! Thanks!

Pomegranata: You're the second person who's said that. XD Aw, but spastic laughs are awesome! Don't stop laughing spasticallyyyyyyy!

I think we've broken the scale by now. Let's go out of 100 from now on so that you don't have to trouble yourself, okay?

mysteriousguy898: Yeah, finally! Yes, sound is -ly important. I can't really say much now except that it has everything to do with BBS and blind people. :D Need help building one? I've got a couple spare parts in the inventory. Yes, updates will be a bajillion times faster now. And merry belated Christmannukwanzika!

Don't worry. Lexi's not dead yet!

Bubbles of Ebil: Ah, nutella. The things you do for us. Well, she kind of had some outside help…

kingdomdisney: Well, you know how at the beginning of KH, Sora's on that platform thingy? And in KH2, Roxas? That was Lexi's version of it.

mysterygirl123: Yeah, I think Sora's reaction is pretty awesome. And when he sees her again? Well…expect shock. Thanks for taking the time to review!

burry and bunny: Thank you! I'm glad she's realistic enough you can relate to her. Peter Pan is kinda rude, and so 4s Lexi, so I figured, "this shall be FUN. :D"

I stared your PS for literally ten minutes before figuring out what it meant. Thank yooooou!

SkyeRockette: Thanks, but mine actually isn't the only one on here. There are some out there waaay better than mine. But thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Yeah…I'm suspenseful like that. Don't worry, we're slowly getting closer to the confession. :D


	15. Incomplete

I own nothing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LELE!

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 15: Incomplete**

"Are you okay?" Alex asked, hurriedly bending down and picking me up from where I'd fallen on the cave floor. I nodded, dazed. What just happened?

"Alex?" I asked uneasily, grasping his arm to steady myself. He put an arm over my shoulder, concerned. "What…who are you? What did I just see? Who…" I gulped. "Who am I?"

He hesitated a moment before finally answering, voice unsure. "You…" he started with a frown. "You…I…what do you want to hear first?"

"I want to know who you are," I decided, clutching him more firmly.

"That's a long story," he frowned, but the look on my face made him continue. "Okay. Well, when you were four and Caden—she's your sister—had disappeared, your entire town was distraught. Your life was falling apart, and one day, a man approached you. He convinced you to go with him and let him experiment on your heart—which was pretty strong. And while he experimented, something went wrong and I was created."

"What?" I frowned, interrupting. "What do you mean, you were created? You can't make something out of nothing."

"No," he agreed. "You can't make something out of nothing. I was created from your light."

I gaped. He _what? _I didn't have…my light?

He looked anxious now, and he hurried into his explanation. "I was going to be used as a weapon. I was in human form, of course, but they were going to make me attack the cores of worlds or take over what they wanted me to. I didn't have any will power at all. I was just an empty shell of light. But something went wrong."

"I lived," I replied, throat dry.

"The scientists thought for sure you'd turn into a Heartless," he agreed. "But you didn't. You stayed alive for the same reason I found a will to do things—we had help from another heart. Since you could no longer use the realm of light, and the darkness would swallow you, she helped you open a new realm."

"Lock and Key was from the realm of Light," I blinked, surprised that I knew this. "But Dark Light wasn't. It was from the realm I opened."

"Yes," he agreed. "They couldn't use me anymore, but they couldn't return me to you—using two realms at once would give you incredible power. So they erased everyone's memories of Caden and replaced them with fake memories of me, and I was made to think I was your brother. Luckily, the helping heart contacted me and explained, and here I am."

I blinked at him for a moment. Everything was making sense all at once in an overwhelming way—I'd seen him in the mirror in a memory because he was part of me. I'd had golden eyes before because I'd been complete. And Caden…I didn't remember Caden because my memories were stolen.

"Alright." I took a deep breath. "Okay. I can handle this. So, what do we do now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he replied with a half grin. "We go get my friends back."

"They're MY friends!"

"We're the same person!"

"…Shut up." I scowled, but he summoned a corridor of some turquoise color, and soon we were on a bunch of rocks, and in the distance were five figures. Soon enough, we had hopped up far enough to hear what two of them were saying to each other.

"No vessel, no help from the Heartless…" a familiar voice called—Riku. "So tell me—how'd you get here?"

The large, furry, beastly figured heaved a breath before replying. "I simply believed," he growled. "Nothing more to it. When our world fell into darkness, Belle was taken from me. I vowed I would find her again, no matter what the cost. I believed I would find her. So, here I am. She must be here." He reared upwards, suddenly pretty scary. "I will have her back!"

"Take her if you can!" Riku yelled in reply, pulling a hand upwards and then downwards. The beast roared and jumped and, in SLOOOOOOWWWW MOOOOTTTTIIIOOOOONNNN, he tried to hit him, which Riku skillfully dodged, shooting back forward and slashing through the poor thing with a type of sword.

"RIKU!"

Alex took a slow step away from me as Riku turned, looking surprised at my face. Trust me, I was absolutely FURIOUS. But just as I yelled his name and bounded upwards, kneeling next to the guy, someone yelled "Stop!" and took a step in front of it.

"Are you okay?" I muttered, taking out Dark Light and casting Heal as many times as possible, praying that he wouldn't be hurt or would at least live. He was still breathing, and each time I cast the spell he got better until he seemed completely normal. He tried to get up, but I pushed him back down, listening to the conversation between two of my best friends as Alex and the animal…guy…talked.

"So, you finally made it," Riku called. "About time. I've been waiting for you."

He continued on into a kind of rant that made me groan before poking Sora in the shins. He grinned at me fleetingly before returning to Riku, who in his dramatic bad guy-ness hadn't noticed. "We've always been rivals, haven't we?" he smirked. "You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you." Abruptly, his smirk was wiped off of his face. "But it all ends here. There can't be more than two Keyblade masters!"

"What are you talking about?" Sora replied with a frown, but I was paying attention to Alex. He looked nervous, angry, and…scared? Anxious? I couldn't tell.

"Let the Keyblade choose," Riku called. "Its true master!"

He held his hand, and suddenly Sora's Keyblade was in it. Riku smirked, pulling back, but I had stood so abruptly he turned to me. I was in a fighting position with Dark Light drawn. My teeth were clenched, and I couldn't seem to stop scowling.

"Give. It. Back." I ordered, pronouncing my words clearly so that it would be impossible to misunderstand.

"It's not my fault the Keyblade chose me," he replied, smirking before turning to Sora. "Maleficent was right. You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world."

"But that's impossible," Sora replied, frowning. "How did this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Lexi." He grinned and hugged me, though quickly letting go. "It's awesome that your alive!"

I had to laugh at the enthusiasm in his voice. "Ah…thanks?"

"You were just the delivery boy," Riku interrupted, rolling his eyes and bringing us back on topic. "Sorry, your part's over now. Here, go play hero with this."

He threw a wooden sword at him, and Sora fell to his knees.

And that's when I lost it.

Yelling as loud as I could, I hurled myself forward and worked to attack every part of him possible. After a few moments of pain (and hopefully, broken bones), he grabbed my hands and stopped me.

"Leave him ALONE!" I yelled, scowled and struggling to hit him more. "He hasn't done anything but search! Who do you think you are? You're worthless! I hate you!"

He seemed stunned, but he still refused to let go. His grip was iron. Then, he started walking away, dragging me along with him. "HEY!" I yelped, but he still didn't let go, refusing to look me in the eyes. I turned around to see Goofy and Donald walking willingly forward, though Goofy was reluctant (DIE, DONALD, DIE), and Alex taking an unsure step forward. "ALEX!" I yelled in desperation, and he looked at me. "I PROMISED TO PROTECT EVERYONE! STAY WITH SORA—DON'T LET THE HEARTLESS TAKE HIS HEART!"

After a moment of pure agony, he nodded. I sighed, relief flitting across my face. At least one thing was going right.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Sora couldn't bring himself to stand or move at all. It was doomed, all doomed; Lexi was gone, Riku was gone, he couldn't save Kairi, and even Donald and Goofy had deserted him. He was alone, and nothing could change it. Everything had taken a turn for the worse. The only good thing was that Lexi had lived, but even that was kind of bittersweet.

He heard a grunt, and without thinking he rushed forward to help the animal-ish dude walk on the opposite side of Alex. Lexi's spell had only helped short term; he was now just as bad as before. "Don't move," he urged. "You're hurt."

"Why…" he muttered in reply. "Why did you…you come here? I came to fight for Belle. And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here."

I won't leave without her. It hit Sora and Alex at the same time—they were there for a reason. They needed to carry it out. They exchanged glances, and then Alex offered a hand. Sora stared at it for a moment before a goofy grin spread across both of their faces, and they shook on it, a silent vow. Sora picked up the wooden sword and they both ran forward, falling into step next to the beast. "Me, too," Sora decided. "I'm not gonna give up now."

"Me three," Alex piped up. "Let's go kick some butt!"

Sora grinned again before continuing. "I came here to find someone very important to me."

_Don't worry, Kairi, Lexi, _he thought confidently. _I'll save you._

As the trio walked through sewers and such, Alex explained how he was part of Lexi, though he conveniently left out the bit about the third realm—he figured Lexi would want to explain that herself. After he finished, a comfortable silence hung in the air.

"So…" Alex decided, allowing a sly grin. "How long have you liked her?"

"What?" Sora practically jumped out of his skin in surprise.

"Lexi," he replied, rolling his eyes. "You like her."

After scowling, he groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Is it that obvious?"

"Nah," Alex replied, full-out grinning now. "I'm just good at relationship stuff. Fortunately for you, I got Lexi's romantic observations, so she doesn't have a clue. Just don't act too obvious around her."

"Okay," he muttered. After a moment of hesitation, he voiced a thought. "Hey, Alex. Since you're part of Lexi, can you tell how she's feeling?"

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod. Sora didn't even have to ask before he explained. "Right now, her feelings are kind of mixed up. She thinks of you as a best friend, but she's starting to feel something more which is confusing her, so she's pushing it to the back of her head."

"Ah."

"Don't worry," he assured. "She'll come around."

Sora nodded. What Alex didn't realize was that Lexi's heart already belonged to someone.

It was official. Sora hated Anthony.

* * *

"Let me go," I complained. "Or at least let me play a board game or something. This is so boring!"

Riku rolled his eyes, pacing back and forth. I hated being kidnapped. Not only was it incredibly boring, I couldn't do ANYTHING to get myself out. I felt useless. Do the people here even know the MEANING of the word 'fun?'

"Don't you at least have a book?" I complained.

"NO." Riku had finally blown and was now up in my face. "Lexi, if you want to live to see tomorrow, SHUT UP."

I scowled and, as he turned away, grumbled, "I can't believe we used to be best friends."

He looked heartbroken, and for a moment, I almost sympathized with him. Almost. Abruptly, I turned around, trying to avoid any feeling but hate.

This is the part where I understand celebrities. I know—weird, right? But I understand. When you're normal, you think, "Pfft. Riches and fame? Who doesn't want THAT? Why are they ruining their life when they have so much more than me!" And normally, I'm with those people. But it's the same way with adventurers. Most people want to have life threatening situations, and I won't lie; it AWESOME. I'm not going to pretend I don't love doing what I do. But it's moments like these that make up for all the awesomeness with a large, unhealthy dose of fail.

I sighed. It would be a long day.

* * *

Happy birthday, Lele-the-Greek-Geek!

OK. So the reasons I didn't update yesterday are: a) it's a reviewer's birthday today. SUPER IMPORTANT. b) I literally wrote this entire thing from 7:00 to 9:05 TODAY. And c) I was at a friend's house most of the day yesterday anyways. So yeah. My reasoning rules.

For what I REALLY hope will be the final time, I don't have time to respond to reviews today, guys. I'm so sorry, but I'm just plain exhausted. Plus I have been wanting to re-watch AVPM and AVPS, so I'm on my way to do that. One more time, Happy B-day Lele and everybody have a good rest of the week!


	16. How To Save A Life

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 16: How to Save a Life**

"Be on your guard," a rough voice warned, and I looked up hopefully from my self-pity party. My features sprung from depressed to ecstatic when I saw three familiar figures in the doorway. "They're close, I can feel it. Are you ready for them?" As Sora and Alex walked forwards, the large furry dude gasped and turned. "Belle?" He roared and ran forward, the door shutting behind him. While my friends were turned around, Riku dragged us to the middle of the room so we could look more mysterious.

"Quit while you can," he warned, and the two turned towards us. The majority was normal, but then they saw something out of the ordinary.

"L-Lexi?" Alex asked, eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"No, it's Frankenstein," I replied sarcastically. I was not in the best mood. "It's called an impenetrable bubble, dorks. I'm kind of stuck in it."

Sora shook his head at me, sighing, before turning back to Riku. "No," he declared bravely. "I'm not leaving without Kairi and Lexi."

"The darkness will destroy you," Riku scowled, and a kind of swirling dark thing-y surrounded him for a moment and then disappeared. I took one look at him and burst out laughing.

"_You're in a skirt!_" I wheezed out, choking on the words. The entire room was staring at me, but I didn't really care; it was a skirt. Riku, the super-bad-evil-guy with the power of the Keyblade, was in a SKIRT. Needless to say, it was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. Period.

"OK," I gasped. "I'm fine. Continue."

A grin twitched onto Sora's face, and as he continued, it didn't leave. "You're wrong, Riku," he declared with a confident smile. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends…it'll never die."

"Except when you, you know, die," I muttered, though I was promptly ignored by the room at large.

"Really…" Riku mused, pulling his hands back and making a ball-of-darkness-thingy. "Well, we'll just see about that!" Sora winced as though he were already in pain as the darkness zoomed towards him, but then Goofy went from completely relaxed to SUPERHUMAN(dog?)SPEED and shielded him from the blow.

"Sora ain't gonna go anywhere!" he called with a frown.

"You'd betray your king?" Riku called, obvious malice in his voice.

"Not on your life!" he yelled, more irritated that I think he'd ever been before. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora, either, 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together!" He turned around and waved. "See you later, Donald! Could ya tell the king I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on, Goofy!" the stupid duck yelled back, waddling forward. "We'll tell him together!" When he made it to Sora, he grinned. "Well, you know…all for one and one for all."

"I guess you're stuck with us, Sora," Goofy agreed with a grin.

"Thanks a lot…" he replied, though he still looked kind of depressed. "Donald, Goofy."

I scowled. My friends AND Donald were all reunited, and I couldn't do a thing. _Maybe I could pop the bubble via willpower, _I thought randomly. _That's what always happens, right? The heroine gives some random heroic speech and then makes it out of her prison._

Unfortunately, everything I'd ever learned from hero-books and movies didn't translate into real life, and even as I grunted and strained, I was stuck in my little bubble. I could tell that SOMEONE found my efforts amusing, because I heard a large laugh as I struggled, but I was too focused to look up.

"How will you fight without a weapon?" Riku called, and I stopped my useless efforts of escaping the bubbly prison. I watched the two teens carefully, sizing them both up in case there was a fight. Riku was bigger and stronger, and he had the Keyblade, but Sora had his heart.

He also had me.

As though he had read my mind, he looked confidently at Riku, who looked startled. "I know now I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon." I swear, he was looking straight at me when he said the next two words. "My heart!"

Riku forced a laugh, but it sounded strained. "Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone," Sora replied, looking at Riku again. Surprisingly, I kind of missed him looking at me. I shook the hormones out of my head. _Get real!_ "It's grown with each new experience. And it's found a home with all the friends I've made! I've become part of their heart just as they've become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then…if they don't forget me…then our hearts will be one. I don't need a weapon." He took out his sword and got into an offensive position. "My friends are my power!"

There was a momentary pause. I, of course, interrupted it. "That was deep. I didn't know you thought that much, Sora."

He gave me a grin. "I've had a lot of time to think."

At that sentence, Riku's Keyblade left. "Wha—?" His eyes widened as the Kingdom Key appeared in Sora's hands, who tried to look like he'd planned it. I almost laughed again.

What followed was a super-epic battle where I sat in my bubble and did absolutely nothing. Well…I cheered a little. But that doesn't count. I basically prodded my bubble repeatedly with pointy objects, like my necklace's chain, or my chewed-on fingernails. Of course it didn't pop. Stupid bubble. Why don't you just let me FIGHT?

Crap, I'm talking to a bubble. That is not a good sign.

The fight basically ended when Riku fell to his knees before running away, draggingmy useless self in my bubble with him. I grinned maliciously when I saw how much energy it was taking him to keep me with him. Serves him right!

Riku dragged me along with him, fighting back…were those tears?

Now I feel really bad. Stupid Riku, making me feel bad.

"Why?" he asked through clenched teeth. "It was mine!" He was panting with the physical effort of running and keeping me with him, and I sighed as he stopped for breath. "Maybe because he's not being a total idiot," I suggested, earning only a glare.

"Know this." I froze at the voice. That was the voice from one hundred years ago—from the secret cave, back at Destiny Island. Riku didn't seem to recognize it, but did turn to see the man. "The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade."

"What? You're saying my heart's weaker than his?" he questioned, promptly ignoring my immediate response of "No duh."

"For that instant, it was," the man replied solemnly. I sighed. "Still speaking in riddles, I see," I noted, being ignored once again.

So it's not just my group who ignores me! It's the whole universe!

"However," the man continued, "you can become stronger. You showed no fear in stepping through the door to the darkness." "Which was dumb, because I _am _darkness and I didn't do that." Again, I was ignored. "It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will go even stronger."

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say," I said seriously. Riku barely glanced at me, but at least I was _acknowledged_.

"What should I do?" Riku asked himself. Finally, I was silent. It wasn't my place to tell Riku what he should do (yeah, I know I've been doing it for the past half hour anyways. Shut up); I had faith in him.

"It's really quite simple," the man said in a voice of poisoned honey. "Open yourself to the darkness. That is all. Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself." Riku looked up, nodded, and began to glow green.

So much for faith.

* * *

I sighed, drawing pictures on my bubble with my fingers. After talking about some dark stuff with Maleficent, the weird kind-of Riku had stored me in the room with the supposed Keyhole. Of course it was dead boring in here. I glared at the wall. I had to accuse something, didn't I?

My gaze turned hopefully to the stairs when I saw Sora and co. running up them. Sora immediately ran to Kairi, who was lying as though comatose, and immediately, my spirits fell. Kairi was more important than I was? I mean, I got that he'd known Kairi longer, but he couldn't even glance at me first? So instead of concentrating on Sora, I watched as some invisible force field pushed Goofy back on the stairs with a small _ding._ "Kairi!" Sora yelled, not noticing. "Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!" Jeez. Girl-obsessed, or what?

I'm so jealous, it's not even funny. And I don't even know _why_.

"It's no use," the half-Riku, half-mysterious-dude-who-talks-in-riddles intoned. Sora looked up at him. He was perched on top of the Keyhole. Meanwhile, I continued to be ignored. _Jeez, how rude can you get?_ "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up."

After carefully setting Kairi down, Sora glanced back up at the Riku person. "What?" he asked with a frown. "You…you're not Riku."

Dude-in-Riku's-body continued as though he hadn't heard, and I felt a surge of satisfaction. At least I wasn't the only one being ignored. Misery loves company. "The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last Princess of Heart still sleeps." There was a banging on the door from the hallway at the words Princess of Heart, which made me jump up, stretching my bubble almost to the limit. _Anthony?_

Sora blinked at me, blocking his view of the silverette jumping down gracefully, but I was beyond caring as I stretched my bubble a little more. Slowly but surely, a tear started to form from the pressure. Sora decided then to ignore me—whether because he cared more about Kairi or because he didn't want to draw attention to my escape, I didn't know. "Princess?" he frowned, looking at the Riku-person, who was slowly walking forward. "Kairi's a princess?"

"Yes," the two-voiced thing agreed, "and without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete." I made sure the tear progressed very slowly as he passed me so that he wouldn't notice my inevitable escape. "It is time she awakened."

"Whoever you are, let Riku go!" Sora yelled defiantly in the stupid manner I normally found childish. "Give him back his heart!"

"But first, you must give the Princess back her heart," Riku replied solidly, pointing his oddly shaped Keyblade at him. Sora writhed in pain and fell to the ground, and I momentarily forgot that I was mad at him. I gasped and glared at the half-Riku. "Sora!" Donald yelled. On his knees, Sora asked through clenched teeth, "What's—"

"Don't you see it yet?" Riku asked, almost angrily. "The Princess's heart is responding! It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi…" he asked painfully. "Kairi's inside me?"

I couldn't hold back a snort right there. "Sora, that sounds _really_ wrong," I teased, speaking for the first time. I couldn't believe I'd held out for that long.

Riku almost snickered with me before remembering he was evil. "I know all there is to know."

"Really?" I asked, interested. "How does LOST end?"

There was a short pause, and Riku blinked at me. "What's LOST?" Sora asked, frowning, but Riku hushed him before replying hesitantly, "Some things are better left unsaid."

"Nice answer," I grinned, impressed. He nodded wisely before turning to Sora, who he was now looming over. "Tell me," Sora pleaded. "Who are you?"

"It is I, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness," he replied monotonously. Donald screamed and ran at Ansem, who pushed him back to the stairs where he fell and didn't get back up. Concentrating, I finally got out of my bubbly prison and quietly began the descent to where Sora was standing.

"So," Ansem-Riku said, bringing his Keyblade up over the still-leaning Sora. "I shall release you now, Princess." It crossed my mind how weird it was that someone was referring to Sora as Princess, but I pushed the thought away and slowly snuck up behind him. I was about halfway across the platform before he began to raise his blade. "Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door. Lead me into everlasting darkness!"

"NO!" I shrieked, running forward. Sora glanced up at me, pleading for me to run, costing him the second that he could've raised his Keyblade. I couldn't let him get hit. It was my fault he'd looked away. So I did the second best thing to erasing the past.

I jumped between him and the blade.

It sliced right through me, leaving my body to crumble, my heart floating upwards and popping. The last things I remembered seeing were Sora, shaking my body, tears in his eyes, and a girl with silver hair…

* * *

…heh…heh heh…DON'T KILL ME.

OK, so my excuses are(in order):

My computer has been a _major_ dork lately. For a couple months I couldn't even get on the Internet with it. I had to use my mother's computer, which didn't have Microsoft Word at the time, and besides, all of my documents were on my computer, which were messing up.

Second is major writer's block. Major is in, sitting in bed for a couple hours trying to think of ideas major.

Third is that, after getting over my writer's block, I have been planning it out and I think I have every idea for this story that I need. Everything.

So! In order to make up for the super-long time between updates, I am writing (drumroll, please)…

CADEN'S STORY.

Yes, it will be about Caden and her friend in BBS. The first chapter will be up ASAP, and I promise that updates will come a lot faster after this!

Also, because it's hard to keep track of reviews and it takes at least half of my writing time to add replies in each chapter, I will now be responding to reviews _in PM. _Sorry for any inconvenience.

The next chapter WILL be up soon! I promise!


	17. In Love and War

I own nothing.

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 17: In Love and War**

Being a Heartless is probably the one thing I least want to relive. You can't think, you can't speak, you can't even breathe. Your willpower just melts away. I felt my Heartless self—I can't remember what type I was—jump over the balcony of the room and scurry away, right into a familiar human who had just burst through the door.

_Anthony…_

And then, randomly, I was alive again.

The first thing I did was take a huge breath of air. Then I opened my eyes and looked around, feeling vaguely surprised when I didn't recognize my surroundings. I was in a snowy field next to a looming forest and a large, clear lake. A full moon hung overhead, and I shivered, touching my hands to my skin to realize that I was definitely not wearing the same clothes as before. I walked over to the lake and glanced at my reflection. Immediately, I jumped back, and then I leaned back over the water, gazing at myself in wonder.

The first thing that I noticed was that my hair was silver. I ran a hand through it, and it crinkled at the touch. It was crimped when my hand made contact, but when nothing touched it it reached my shoulders in a wave. My eyes had changed, too—they were their original color. Amber. My skin was still pale, but my clothes were completely different. Instead of my normal shirt and pants, I wore a black dress that reached my knees and a necklace with a weird symbol. I had on white gloves with pink at the edges. My feet were bare, and I shivered as the wind blew through.

Where was I? More importantly, what had happened to me? I opened my mouth to speak, but my normal voice didn't come out. This voice was softer—more feminine. I buried my head in my hands. "What's happened?" I whispered, terrified of all the changes. "Am I dreaming? I want Alex! I want Anthony! I want Sora!"

_Sora._

Would I ever see him again? I knew he wasn't a Heartless, after all. I'd saved him from that fate. Anthony would be helping him fight Riku…he'd be protecting Kairi. It was his job. I don't know how, but I was firm in that that _was_ his job. He'd said so, after all.

I had let my guard down thinking about it. Abruptly, my Heartless self took over—watching Sora's Keyblade clash against Ansem's in an epic battle, struggling in Anthony's arms. Then I was myself again, and I had screamed at the pure terror that being without reason to survive. I was on my knees, and I was gasping for breath. And then, suddenly, my Heartless self heard a voice.

_Lexi! Lexi, come back. We need you to help us. Sora's in trouble. You promised, remember?_

_Alex?_

And then my Heartless self wasn't a Heartless anymore—I was me again, standing in a hall, surrounded by Shadows, and Alex was hugging me so that I was back. I abruptly jumped on him; he stumbled. "Thank you," I whispered, smiling gratefully.

He grinned in reply, but an earthquake began to rumble through. "We have to go!" Anthony yelled. I glanced at him, startled at what I saw. He'd lost a lot of weight, and his hair was now shaved down so that it was bristly. He stood back-to-back with Sora, battling Heartless with his Heartblade. Nearby, Anna was attacking some Shadows relentlessly. Kairi cowered in a corner, and Alex stood protectively over me.

Abruptly, the Beast from before jumped from a balcony and scratched at a Shadow. "Go! Now!" he yelled, scowling in a very Donald-like way.

Oh my gosh, I was happy to see _Donald._ Something must have gone seriously wrong with my brain.

"Come with us!" Sora called in reply, standing in front of a now-conscious Kairi. His eyebrows were knit together in concern. We had barely spared each other a glance before, but now I just took in the fact that he was still _alive._ We had a lot to talk about.

"I told you before," the Beast rumbled, "I'm not leaving without Belle. Now go! The Heartless are coming!"

"Great," I grumbled. "An animalistic Paul Revere. That's just fantastic. My day has been made."

Sora, of course, ignored me. "Alright," he agreed uneasily. "Let's get out of here!" Immediately, we all rushed out of the castle and over the rocks until we found the landing where Sora parked the gummy ship. There was a slight ruckus as we all shoved to get in first, but eventually we all made it in there. I was squished between Sora—who had kindly given up his seat for Kairi—and Anna, who was currently talking to Anthony. I listened in on their conversation a little.

"We can't leave him there!" she was saying, a scowl on her face. "He saved our lives! And he was there…with me…the entire time I…" Uh-oh. Anna was on the brink of tears. I mentally wished Anthony all the luck in the world trying to fix _that_.

"Lexi." I glanced away from the conversation to see Sora watching me, brow furrowed. I was taken aback by the seriousness in his voice. My eyebrows rose to show I was listening. He hesitated before asking the question. "Why did you take that hit from the Keyblade instead of me?"

I sighed. That was it? "Isn't it obvious?" I questioned, rolling my eyes before nudging him with my shoulder. "After all we've been through, I'd be crazy not to save your life. I mean, you're the Keyblade's chosen one, right?" I grinned at him, and he smiled tentatively in reply. "Besides, you're my best friend. My world would be completely different without you."

That seemed to satisfy him, and there was a comfortable pause in the conversation. All of a sudden, my face lit up in a devious smirk, and his expression turned wary. Ah, he knew me too well. "So…" I grinned. "How long have you had your crush?"

The result was immediate. I watched as Sora turned beet red and jumped about a foot in the air, knocking into Alex's head. "Oi!" Alex yelped before rubbing the probable bump. I blinked. He watched me nervously. "H-how long have you known about that?"

I shook my head. "Since I heard what happened when I was a Heartless." A Heartless and…something else. I don't know what happened other than falling in darkness, but I know that _something _did. It was like my memory was whipped clean. I didn't like it. All that came to my mind when I thought of that time was a girl with silver hair. "Jeez, I didn't know you liked Kairi that much."

Again, the result was immediate, but this time opposite; his entire body relaxed. I was completely confused. Did he have a seizure or something? Whatever it was, it had finished then. "I don't like Kairi," he said, voice calm. My eyebrows rose.

"Sora, you don't commit technical suicide with someone you're only friends with," I declared smugly, face right next to his. I grinned at him, and he smiled softly back.

"You did."

…of all things, I was _not _expecting that response.

I turned slightly red. I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it once more. I looked, I'm sure, exactly like a fish. Finally, staring at my feet, I muttered, "That was different." He grinned in reply. He had won that battle…but he hadn't won the war.

Still, I couldn't look at him without turning red the entire way to Leon's gang's house.

"Tell me what happened," Leon said, frowning in an 'I'm-so-cool-don't-mess-with-me' way. He was, as usual, leaning against the wall. I concentrated on him so that I wouldn't have to look at Sora.

What followed was a long explanation from Sora, Donald, and Goofy, with myself piping up with the occasional comment. It took at least half an hour of our probable limited time. I watched Anthony and Kairi converse in whispers. He seemed to be explaining something to her.

"So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole…" Leon muttered when we had finished.

"No wonder there are more and more Heartless everywhere," Aerith agreed in her breathy voice. "The only way to stop them is—"

"Seal the Keyhole, right?" Sora asked, a small smile overcoming his face.

That's when I realized. Alex couldn't be used to take over worlds now, so I didn't need to seal the dark Keyholes anymore.

I was useless.

A strangled cry escaped my lips and my head hit my knees, my entire body shaking. Nobody noticed. Leon responded to Sora's question. "Maybe. But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed."

"Well, we can't just stay here!" Sora replied with that courageous stupidity he was famous for. "We have to do something! I've got a friend back there." He scowled up at the older man, who nodded slowly.

"That's right," Leon agreed. "You have one more friend to worry about. Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts—just like that Keyhole you saw." He looked up at Kairi. "Of course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed. Don't worry, Sora. If anyone can save your friend, you can."

While the room was quiet, inwardly I was screaming. Useless. _Useless. _There was no point in my being there anymore. But before I left, I wanted some answers. After a moment's pause, I looked at Anthony. "So," I said, and the whole room turned to me. Finally, I wasn't being ignored. "What's your story? Why do you have the Heartblade?"

He paused. "Uh…" But everyone's attention was on him now. We all wanted answers. Finally, he sighed and began to explain. "Well, it's because I'm the Protector. The Protector is the person who ensures the safety of the Princesses of Heart. The last one was named Luna, and when she died, the Blade chose me to continue keeping them safe." He cleared his throat. "Alex can use it, too, because there was a kind of…artificial Protector with Luna. Named Caden."

My heart leapt into my throat. Caden was a Protector?

"She wasn't a true Protector, because she didn't protect the princesses," he explained. "Instead, there was somebody else with a pure heart she protected. Her Blade was given to her when their heart was made pure."

"How do you know?" I demanded, leaning forward in my chair, frowning at him. When he didn't reply, I repeated the question, a little louder, a little angrier. "_How do you know?"_

"I don't know," he admitted, and I sighed, leaning back. All the fight just went out of me. I rubbed my eyes before smiling softly. _Caden_... I wasn't completely useless. I could still defeat Heartless. I sighed again. I was getting way too stressed. I closed my eyes. Wouldn't it be nice to just fall asleep right there, right like I was…

Before I knew it, I was softly snoring away.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Sora sighed, shaking his head at the thought of Lexi. She had fallen asleep after talking to Anthony, and he was glad. The circles under her eyes couldn't be good for her. They'd lain her down in a more comfortable position, and he was currently in the cave with Kairi.

"A light at the end of the tunnel…" she said, gazing off into the distance.

"Oh, your grandma's story, right?" he asked with a grin.

"That's right!" she agreed, face lighting up. "We were together."

"You know what's funny?" Sora asked. As the words left his mouth, he thought of Lexi and her sarcastic jokes. He was, obviously, obsessed. "I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along." He walked towards her, so that if they wanted to, they were close enough to kiss. "Finally, we're together, Kairi. Now it's time to get Riku back."

Kairi laughed a little at that. "Lexi's future boyfriend, right?" she teased with a grin before sighing. She'd seen the expression on his face. No further explanation was needed. Already, she missed the times when she was sure of her future—her and Sora and Riku and Lexi. "Do you think it'll ever be the same between us again?" she asked, mournfully watching the water. "Riku's lost his…"

Sora blinked. "When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember?" In his head, he heard Lexi's response. _Jeez, Sora, always thinking about yourself. _"I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark"—though he distinctly remembered floating, stumbled sounded more dramatic—"I started forgetting things—my friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed me."

His voice was distinctly cheerier with the next part of his speech. "But then, I heard a voice—your voice. You brought me back."

Kairi offered a small smile in reply. Maybe her relationship with Sora wasn't entirely lost. "I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora. I couldn't."

"That's it!" Sora replied, excited. _Eureka._ "Our hearts are connected. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale."

"Well, let's go!" Kairi cheered, smiling.

"You can't go!" Sora protested in reply, shaking his head.

"Why not?"

"Because it's way too dangerous!"

"Come on, Sora! We made it this far by sticking together!"

"If I remember right, you were locked in Sora's heart, right? So technically, you weren't sticking together. You were more of a…freeloader." They heard footsteps echoing across the cave.

"Lexi!"

Lexi grinned at them, brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes. "I woke up and Leon told me you all were down here. Hope I didn't ruin a romantic moment." She smirked at Kairi's blush before walking forward. "Kairi, here's the deal. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and me….we've been travelling together for a while. We're a group. A team. We know when to avoid each other and how to fight together. Another person with us would mess the entire thing up."

Sora grinned at Lexi, who had decided to lean against the wall in a Leon-esque way; she grinned back. His heart leapt as her eyes lit up with her smile. It was so rare that she didn't wear her hat and sunglasses, Sora was almost glad she'd lost them. "Besides, Kairi," Sora continued. "Even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore. Right?"

"You weren't alone originally!" Lexi yelped, playfully shoving him. He laughed and held up his hands in surrender. As they bantered jokingly, Kairi watched with a sad look in her eyes. She was losing Sora, ever so slowly.

"I can't help?" she asked, frowning, bringing them back from their momentary reprieve.

"Nope," Lexi replied, popping the 'p' and leaning with one arm on Sora's shoulder.

"You'd kind of be in my way," Sora joked before pushing Lexi's arm off him; she simply replaced it. She grinned smugly at him. "You are my new armrest," she ordered before nodding her head in Kairi's direction. "Now, your future lady has something to say to you!"

"Okay, you win," Kairi agreed, smiling before taking out a star-shaped necklace and placing it gently in Sora's hand. "It's my lucky charm!" she ordered. "Be sure to bring it back to me."

"Don't worry, I will," he replied, fist closing over it. "Promise?" she asked, childishly. "Promise," he agreed.

"Don't ever forget," Kairi said, watching his eyes; Lexi watched quietly from the portion of wall she'd slunk over to. "Wherever you go, I'm always with you." It was then, sharing a quiet stare with Sora, that Kairi decided something.

She liked Lexi; really, she did. They were friends. But Kairi wouldn't stop fighting for Sora. She was sure that Lexi would agree—after all, all's fair in love and war.

* * *

"You're staying here!"

"No, I'm not!" Anthony yelled in reply, face turning slightly red. He glared across the room at me. Currently, the room had cleared out so we could have a shouting match, but Anna, Sora, and Kairi watched from the window in a morbidly fascinated way. Sora and Kairi solved their problems through reasoning. Anthony and I solved them through fighting.

"You're needed here!" I pointed out, glaring from across the room at him. I was slightly red, and not just from fighting. I was in a room—_alone—_with Anthony, and I wasn't stumbling over my words. In my eyes, that was a brilliant accomplishment. "Kairi's staying here! You're supposed to protect the princesses!"

"Six other princesses are over there!" he shot back. We simultaneously glared at each other. Our relationship, somehow, had morphed during the adventure—he wasn't my crush anymore. He was my friend. And I loved him. Which meant that I couldn't let him go. "Besides, you've gone long enough without me! I could help!"

"You'd just get in the way!" I complained, scowling at him from across the room; he glared back with equal venom. I took a deep breath. Calm down. "Anthony, I don't know what happened during our adventures, but you're my friend now. And if I lost you…" I gulped down tears. "If I could've done something to stop it…" I took a deep breath. "It would…I would never get over it."

He sighed, walking over to me. We were almost whispering now. The abrupt change was almost comical. "Lexi…if the positions were reversed, you would want to come along, too," he said, frowning at me. "You know you would."

"And you would stop me from coming," I agreed, hiccupping slightly. He hung his head before looking up at me, a sad smile on his face.

"Fine," he agreed, pulling me into a bear hug. "You win. I'll stay." He looked me straight in the eyes. "Promise you won't forget me?" I sighed in reply. "Never," I agreed. As I pulled away, I felt something dangle on my ear. Frowning, I touched it and realized that Anthony had stuck an earring there—from the feel of it, one that hung down with crystals. It wasn't the type that you sleep in, but I vowed not to take it off until he wanted it back.

"Your reminder," he teased with a grin, poking the earring so that it clinked. I laughed and shoved him away. As we walked out of the room, I pretended not to notice Anthony giving Sora a death glare, which was returned. Because all's fair in love and war.

* * *

OHMYGOSH, I HAVE 90 REVIEWS.

10 more and I'll get REALLY excited!

Soo, super speedy update this chapter. Anybody proud of me?...anybody? Anyone at all? Love you all, too.

The first chapter of Caden's story is in the process of being made, and that brings me to a question. _Do you all want me to do the other KH sequels? _I, as mentioned, have every story planned out if I do do sequels, but I'm leaving it up to you all to decide whether I do or not. Leave your vote in the reviews!

Next chapter, something dramaticallly important happens. I won't tell you what it is, but I can promise it's different from most stories~ ;)


	18. Make Me a Story

**(Please note that this is unedited and really not according to what I usually do. Really, I'm just bone tired. SORRY, THERE'S GOING TO BE A BIG NOTE AT THE END, I'LL REUPLOAD THIS THING BETTER LATER)**

* * *

_A book._

_We go through a series of complicated tasks, say a sappy good-bye, I don't get to draw my Keyblade once, and now we're stuck in a freaking fairytale._

_Needless to say, I'm ticked off._

_Sora's off cuddling up to some adorable little teddy bear. I'm not doing that. Sora's my best friend, yeah, but I'm not going to follow him on every sappy adventure he goes on. I mean, I have a life. Things to do. Places to see. Flammable objects to blowtorch. That kind of stuff. I don't wanna go frolicking through the flowers with a stuffed bear and his honey. Ugh. The cuteness level is disgusting here._

_So rather than just sit around and be bored for however long Sora's adventure is going to be this time, I'm writing in a journal. Yay. Exciting, right? Such is the story of my life. Boring. Boring. Boring. Oh, flowers! Boring. Boring. See what I mean? I need something to do!  
_

_Oh, look. A bumblebee._

_...wait._

_Is that thing watching me?_

_Ok, getting up and moving, different tree, please..._

_And there's Sora, reading over my shoulder. Hey, Sora. How you doing?_

_What? No, you can't see my other entries! Go away! Why would I let you read this?_

_Huh? No, Sora, I haven't seen them. Maybe if I'd been allowed to _do something,_ I would have noticed the duck and the dog that tend to follow us everywhere we go for absolutely no reason. Why don't you go off and search with your little stuffed friends?_

_Jealous? What do you mean?_

_That's right. Walk away._

_...wow. One day, I'm going to read this and laugh and the pure stupidity I've just written. I mean, what the heck am I doing?_

I sat there, under that tree, chewing on the edge of my pencil. There was no way in the world that I was just following Sora wherever he wanted to go. Not a chance. No matter how cute that puppy dog face is, or how much he begs, or how...

Ok, so _maybe_ I moved a little closer so that I could watch him. But only, like, five inches. I mean, Sora's a clumsy dude! He could get hurt! I've gotta be the responsible one and make sure he's careful, since Donald would probably scream at me if he gets hurt. Sometimes, I swear that duck just hates me. He doesn't even have a reason to. He's just that annoying.

Unconsciously, I started writing again, scribbling thoughts as they came to me for complete lack of anything else to do.

_I mean, what did I ever do to that stupid duck? I haven't done anything wrong to him unless you count that one time in Wonderland, and I apologized for that!_

I paused, pen still poised on the paper.

_...didn't I?_

But when I thought back to it, I hadn't. I hadn't said one kind word to Donald after the whole 'convenience' episode. Maybe, I realized with a start, that was why Donald and I hated each other so much. Maybe I should just suck it up and apologize.

_Nah, Donald's just a drama queen. I mean, we've been traveling together for I-don't-know how long. It's a little late to hold a grudge, dude. Besides, I've forgiven him for whatever he's done to me, which is...um..._

_uuuuuh..._

_something big! He irritated me with something very important that I just happen to be unable to remember! He's totally in the wrong here!_

_I suck._

_OK, so moving on...hmm...what to write on. Well, my first thought is Sora, because he's most of the reason I'm on this stupid adventure. Yup. Stupid. Just like he is. I mean, really! How blind can you get? He doesn't notice that Kairi's majorly crushing on him, he doesn't notice that Donald and Goofy are gone until about half an hour after we land in a random book; I bet he wouldn't even notice if I walked up and, I dunno, kissed him!_

_..._

_Sooo, since I'm totally not thinking about kissing Sora now...nice weather we've been having, considering the whole potential end-of-the-worlds thing. Good thing my back's turned to the sun and...stuff.  
_

I stared for a moment and what I'd written before slamming my head into the tree trunk, giving myself a nice bump on the back of my head.

_I'm such a teenager._

* * *

My journal was still out an hour later when Sora found me, but my pencil lay a few feet away and I was on my stomach, flipping through the pages and just reading what I'd wrote. I started this thing at the beginning of my vacation on Destiny Islands, and it's kind of my refuge at this point. I tried to hide it whenever I could and not think about it in case there was some weird mind-reading technology developed (don't knock it 'till you try it), so I'd almost forgotten about the thing.

The very first entry was one sentence long: _This place sucks._ The next entrance was a paragraph, complaining about the sunshine. Flipping through the pages, I realized that I was really just an angsty teenager, not actually anything particularly special. Great. There was one entry, though, that caught my eye. It wasn't long, but it was interesting all the same.

**_I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Pleasure meeting you, Lexi. Keep in touch._**

_Today I learned that pirates can write. Awesome, I know. He pushes down really hard on the pencil, though..._

_It's weird, but I miss Sora a lot. More than Anthony, even. I guess it's because we've kind of saved each others lives (and we almost killed each other, because we're teenage idiots), but I kind of feel close to him in a different way than my other friends. It's...awkward. Really, really awkward. But it's also true. I miss his smiling as he told a bad joke; I miss joking around with him as Donald and I fight; I miss his puppy dog face; I even miss his dumb obsession with Kairi. It's just, I mean, I just...just..._

_Ugh. I don't even know. I can't put it into words..._

_Just..._

_When he's not there, I just..._

_...I just can't..._

_breathe._

I sat there, staring down at that one word (_breathe, breathe I can breathe i can i breathe i breathed i will breathe)_ until Sora came back and found me sprawled over the notebook, half asleep. He slipped the notebook out from under me, and I shifted groggily as he read it.

I didn't catch the expression on his face. But now that it's all said and done, he keeps telling me it was a smile. But I thought I heard him whisper something, too, even though he keeps denying it. He definitely mumbled something before discarding the notebook and shaking my shoulder. "Lexi," he sang cheerfully. "Get up~"

I groaned and rolled over. "Stop smiling," I grumbled in complaint.

His smile faded. "How come?" he frowned, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Because when you smile I can't be mad at you, idiot."

For unknown reasons, Sora's smile returned full force and he laughed, standing once again (_why sit down?_ I thought bitterly) and holding out his hand to help me up. I groaned and took it, careful to keep my face away from the sun, which was now low in the sky. As I stood, I stumbled slightly, almost bumping into a nearby bee hive. Five minutes and 15 unhappy bees later, I was standing in front of Sora's little animal friends.

"You woke me up and got me stung by bees, probably giving me some kind of traumatizing fear of bugs, to meet a couple stuffed animals?"

"Yup!" Oh, Sora. You oblivious little child you.

"You suck."

"You love me anyways!" This coming from the oblivious little child was not the most normal thing of my day.

"...s-shut up!" I only love him like a _friend..._but was that what he meant? Crap! "Geez, Sora. What makes you think I'd want to hang out with a stuffed bear and his friends?"

"They're really nice, Lexi!"

"Whatever, I'm out of here." Cue dramatic stomping...that's right, Sora. _Feel_ the guilt welling up in your chest. _Feel _the...

...well, crap.

Sora laughed, jogging over to help me up from where I'd fallen face-first into the grass. I glared at the hand before standing on my own, brushing myself off; he laughed again, and I bit the inside of my cheek to hide my smile. "Shut up," I snapped. "I'm still leaving."

"Of course, of course." He waved it off like it wasn't important, giving me this odd look and a crooked half-smile. He didn't look quite so innocent anymore, nor did he look very dangerous; he was more like caught somewhere in between, and I have to admit, it looked really, well, um, it looked...

good. Yeah, that was the word I was going for. Good.

I'm so screwed.

* * *

LALALALALALALALALA, I CAN'T HEAR YOUR INSULTS FOR NOT UPDATING

So I lied. Big thing will come next chapter (which I have already mostly written out, so I can promise it will be up.)

No, it wasn't your eyes playing tricks on you. This chapter is about 2 pages shorter than the others. Mostly, I just wanted to _update_.


	19. What's in a Name

**~Overcoming Fears~**

**Chapter 19: What's in a Name**

"OW! FU - "

"Hey Lexi, are you okay?"

I bit back a blistering retort. "Yeah, fine," I grumbled, rubbing my back as I stood and looked around. "So, uh, where are we, anyway? I mean, I like the color purple and all, but..."

Sora glanced around and frowned. We were on a dark purple platform, surrounded by other purple rocks; I wasn't sure where the pink sky ended and the identical ocean began. "Gawrsh, is it all that's left of the worlds taken by the heartless?" Goofy guessed with astonishing accuracy, considering it was...you know...Goofy.

"Those worlds will be destroyed if we beat Ansem, right?" Sora asked uneasily. I gave him an apathetic shrug.

"You betcha!" Donald cheered, for once not being psychotically unhappy and actually sounding _cheerful_. Shocking.

"What if we do, though?" I ask, and their eyes turn to me. "What if we defeat Ansem and this world and us...what if we all disappear? What if everything we've done falls apart _because_ we save the worlds?"

I can see it in the frigid silence that they hadn't thought of this yet, that it hadn't once occurred to them that _they_ might be put in danger. I hate that, because they're so selfless and I'm so not and suddenly I feel completely and utterly alone even though we're supposed to be a team. "Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't going nowhere," Goofy finally decides, and it rings out with certainty, another rare quality for him. "I'm sure we'll find our pals again! Yup, I just know that we will!" Donald nodded his agreement.

"Yeah," Sora agreed, and his voice was laced with faux confidence that even I knew wasn't real. "You're right." He paused and looked down at Kairi's lucky charm; in the same moment, I touched my fingers to Anthony's earring. _I'll return this. I promise._

* * *

It was when we were floating next to that giant...flying...black..._thing_ that I realized the problem.

It was a giant gargoyle-devil with possessed yellow eyes and bony wings that rose to great us from the ground as we floated almost unnaturally peacefully in the darkness, sparkling as if we were Vampmeyers ( Edward Cullen, Alice...something, etc). He stood with his arms folded, daring us to attack him in an aloof, evil way. Sora summoned his Keyblade. I attempted to do the same.

No response.

I paused and tried again. Nothing. I bit my lip in indecision, glancing at my teammates; they were poised for battle. The panic felt like a hammer as it struck me and suddenly I was frantic, and I began whispering, talking to myself, "Just give me a weapon, I just want a weapon, any weapon is fine - "

_Those of the darkness may obtain what they seek if they simply ask the right questions._

There was _something_ in my hands, and I didn't know what it was until I looked at it and it was the most beautiful bow I'd ever seen, with stripes of golden and silver colors streaming across it and a whole container of arrows strapped to my back. Nobody noticed as they'd already zoomed into battle, and suddenly it was me and my new weapon (the phrase _Krynt_ engraved on one of the stripes) and the gargoyle and nothing else existed. I took a deep breath, notched an arrow, and fired.

_Exploding arrows. Cool._

The monster yelled as it's shoulder caught flame, though it didn't last long; I grabbed another arrow and shot it. The gargoyle reached for me but Sora beat it's hand back, turning and gesturing wildly for me to continue. My third arrow seemed to rock the very earth as it hit the thing, and I was sure for a moment that that _must_ be rare because I just _could not_ be lucky enough to have many of those. I was right and my fourth arrow was a normal one and it didn't do any good; my fifth exploded in it's eye and with my arrows and Sora's Keyblade and Donald's spells and Goofy's...uh, cheerleading, the thing was brought to it's knees and it burst into purple-and-pink-and-blue flames that cast shadows even in the absolute darkness. The only thing left was a tiny volcano.

"You can't summon your Keyblade!" Sora yelped as the three of them floated over to me, and I fidgeted self-consciously.

"It's not like I chose not to..."

"But why not?" Sora demanded. "It doesn't make any sense! You're normal now, and your heart's back to normal, so you should be able to use it! Right? Right?"

_Those of the darkness..._

"Sora, I don't think I _am_ back to normal."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, nearly hysterical at this point. "Of course you are!"

"Sora, calm down!" Goofy said with a concerned grimace. "Lexi doesn't _mean _anything by it."

"Yeah!" Donald agreed. "She's just saying."

"Yeah, Sora," I sighed, though what I really wanted to say was _No I'm not, I'm different, I'm darkness and I've lost my heart and I shouldn't be here because you guys deserve someone better_ but I didn't say that; instead I put a comforting arm over Sora's shoulder. "Don't have a panic attack, alright? Come on, let's go open that door you mentioned earlier."

His eyes were still worried but he nodded slowly and glided forwards, leaving me to follow him and guiltily ignore the bow now weighing tons on my back.

* * *

I screamed when he opened the door.

He turned to me in alarm but I couldn't stop and I might never stop because it was so bright I couldn't handle it i couldn't he couldnt make me i cant i cant dont make me please the light it _burns_

"Lexi, what's wrong?"

what do you thinks wrong its bright its so bright dont you see how bright it is i cant breathe its there and its real and its overwhleming and i cant feel anything not the darkness or the light or even my own body because its all bright and its all there and its _all bright_

And then there was sand beneath my knees and my head was cradled in my hands and I was sobbing in a little ball right there on Destiny Islands, sobbing my nonexistent heart out because I just couldn't, I couldn't do this, I couldn't keep this up anymore. Eventually, the curtain has to fall, the mask must come off, the show must end. I was a weakling and a fool and now the whole world knew and all I could do was keep crying. Sora looked lost, innocent boy he was, so I swallowed my tears and shakily uncurled myself, eyes shut tight against the blinding sunlight.

"Are you..." he gulped, leaning down next to me; tears were still tracking down my cheeks and my body was still shaking uncontrollably. "Are you okay?"

"No," I whispered, eyes still shut. I felt stupid and weak and vulnerable but he didn't seem to understand because after a moment of struggle he had picked me up bridal style, and even though I was gross and sweaty and downright depressing looking her didn't seem to care. _Stupid Sora,_ I thought as I pressed my face into his shirt. _When you start acting selfless, it makes me feel like you actually care._

His steps were slow as he balanced my weight with his, but he must've become inhumanly strong with his Keyblade because I didn't seem to be much of a problem for him to carry. "Is this..." he muttered, and I heard the water pounding against the shore draw nearer. "Is this my island?"

I don't know how long we moved for or where we moved or even whether or not I was awake, but my face was pressed so tightly against his shirt to block out the light that it wouldn't have mattered. Slowly I stopped crying and began to realize how awkward the situation was, my face heating up to a blush that his body heat did nothing to help. I had to admit, though, I wouldn't have moved even if there hadn't been the ever present threat of the sun.

"Hey," Sora was whispered as we moved, "Lexi?"

"Hmm?" I replied, voice muffled by his shirt.

"What happened?"

"You mean I never told you?" The realization was surprising; I had never thought to tell him, I supposed.

"Told me what?"

"I'm scared of the light."

Our impromptu heart-to-heart was interrupted with a vaguely familiar voice; "This world has been connected."

I could hear Sora's heartbeat quicken next to my ear and my own pounded faster. "What was that?" Goofy yelled as there was a _woosh_, almost like the wind.

"Tied to the darkness..." There, again. "Soon to be completely eclipsed. There is so very much to learn. You understand so little. A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing." The thrumming of Sora's heart and the sound of feet on sand told me that Sora was running, perhaps to the edge of the island; I wasn't sure where anything was at this point, but I felt safe enough in Sora's arms.

"Take a look at this tiny place," the voice said, monotonous but familiar. "To the heart seeking freedom this island is a prison surrounded by water, and so this boy sought out to escape from his prison." Sora gently set me down (I curled up in an attempt to keep his body heat and his smell) and I'm sure took an offensive position. "He sought a way to cross over into other worlds," the disembodied voice continued, oblivious. "And he opened his heart to darkness."

"Riku!"

"Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is."

"Anna..." I mumbled under my breath. Where was Anna? I hadn't seen her since Neverland...what had she _done? _Maybe she'd run away and had gathered an army of midgets. I wouldn't have been surprised.

"His heart belongs again to darkness!" the man continued, ignoring me entirely which really wasn't too shocking at that point. "All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness from whence it came. You see, darkness is the heart's true essence. Just ask your friend Lexi here."

"That's not true!" The passion in Sora's voice surprised me, enough that I shifted in place and creaked my eyes open just a smidge. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

"So you have come this far," the man murmured, "and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!"

I was paralyzed, maybe not by the light or the darkness or any fear at all but I was, perhaps from nothing at all. And there was only one thought that swirled in my mind.

_How can a heart return to darkness if it never left it?_

* * *

When I finally opened my eyes, everything was black.

Maybe it would've been better if I hadn't looked to see where I was; I don't know. But it was blissfully dark and suddenly I felt completely at home, which was probably not a good sign. "Wha - " I heard Sora say, though I couldn't see a thing.

"Behold the endless abyss!" Ansem yelled. "Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts! Look as hard as you are able. You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born - even and especially yours."

A gasp and I looked down and holy crap, was that thing a Heartless?

"Darkness conquers all worlds!"

This was when gravity kicked in, Goofy and Donald disappearing into some kind of black hole as Sora and I fell, clinging to each other's arms; he yelled and I yelled and as we feel a chill wracked through my body and I realized that I was going to die.

_"Lexi!"_

"Caden!"

And Sora and I flew skyward, he taking out his Keyblade and I grabbing my bow Krynt and an exploding arrow. Simultaneously, we began to attack, me firing arrow after arrow after arrow after arrow with a seemingly endless supply and he hitting with all the strength he had.

Oh yeah, and Ansem was shirtless.

Beautiful mental picture, I know.

Sometimes, Sora flew into the portal-thing and I always stood there, lost. Every time Sora left the Heartless completely stopped moving, and even when Sora was there it never even tried to hit me, which I considered weird but convenient. After what could have been hours or minutes, Sora and Donald and Goofy and me flew away as the thing halfway imploded and after another hour or so, _finally_ completely died, bursting into a ball of flame that reminded me of stars.

"It is...futile," Ansem managed, voice strained, and he moved to speak further but I cut him off.

"Could you please _stop_ with the monologues and get to the freaking point? Because it's getting seriously annoying when you do that."

Ansem paused to glare at me before struggling around. "Kingdom Hearts!" he half-whispered. "Fill me with the power of darkness..." The door slowly opened, and shadow vapor can twisting and turning and gliding out, forming objects of no consistency and then disappearing into wisps once more. "Supreme darkness!" Ansem was yelling now, and I resisted the urge to bonk him upside the head with Krynt.

"You're wrong," Sora said confidently. "I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts...

"Is light!"

Well, at least he gave me enough time to cover my eyes before the light began flooding out.

I _did_ hear Ansem exploding though. For the record?

It sounded _awe. Some._

Sora prodded me gently when the light faded, and the four of us ran towards the open door, pushing against it with all our might. Goofy turned to glance between the doors and jumped back. "Stop staring and keep pushing!" Donald ordered before turning to look himself. "The Heartless!" the two animals chorused, and I froze.

_Run between the space run between the space, you can do it they're _right there_ and there's just enough space to get through, what the heck are you waiting for?_

_I'm waiting for Sora._

"Hurry!" Donald yelled, and I pick up the pace.

"I can't..." Sora gasped.

"Don't give up!" came a voice, a hand grabbing the door, and I froze. _Riku, oh my God Riku, get the heck over here, Sora missed you so much!_ "Come on, Sora! Together, we can do it!"

"Okay!" Sora agreed with a nod before turning to push harder than ever; I shoved roughly with my shoulder.

"It's hopeless!" Donald screamed as the Heartless began to wake up.

"Riku, get out of there!" I called, biting my lip for nerves; after only a moment I started to taste blood.

And then there was a mouse.

"Your majesty!" Donald and Goofy both yelled, bending into a bow.

"The king we've been searching for is a _rat?_"

"I'll have you know that King Mickey - "

"Donald, just shut up. I'm completely ignoring you."

The Grand-and-Mighty King took out a Keyblade. "Now, Sora!" he called. "Let's close this door for good!"

"Close it, quick!" Donald ordered, but I was frozen in place, thinking. _For good...?_ "But..." Sora seemed to agree with me.

"Don't worry," Mickey called. "There will always be a door to the light."

"Sora, Lexi, we can trust King Mickey," Goofy called confidently, and that might've been the only reason I got ready to push again. I mean, Heartless invasions don't stop just because you're having a heart-to-heart.

"Now!" Riku called. "They're coming!"

"Donald," Mickey called tentatively. "Goofy. Thank you."

Riku turned and smiled gently at Sora. "Take care of her."

It was obvious by our expressions that neither Sora nor I knew how he was talking about; Kairi...or me.

"YEAH, WELL, I DIDN'T LIKE YOU ANYWAYS."

"I'll see you later Lexi."

I grinned and waved, and the last I saw of him was his laughing face. We jumped back and Sora closed the Keyhole, me keeping a tight grip on my bow. I could hear Mickey doing the same from the other side, and slowly, the door faded.

I missed Riku already. "Well, _that_ was majorly depressing," I sighed, slinging my bow over my back. "We should - "

"Lexi!"

I froze and Sora and I turned simultaneously to find two people waiting for us. Sora immediately ran forward, but all I could hear was a scream ringing in my ears - not my own, though still familiar. "Nice eyepatch," I called faintly as I jogged ahead. "Uh, what's wrong?"

Anna was standing there waiting for me, and she did have an eyepatch (a pretty creepy one, too) that covered her left eye but she was screaming and screaming and I couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong. Sora and Kairi were oblivious as they had their deep conversation, and Anna's rock began to split away from mine.

"Lexi, what the hell is that thing?" Anna demanded, cursing for what may have been the first time in her life. I turned around and...

she was right. Who and what the _hell_were those things?

One was obviously a girl but her curvy body, dressed in a black cloak; the hood was down to reveal silver hair and familiar golden eyes. Her skin was pale and also familiar, and behind her was a tall swirling mass of darkness. The girl stepped towards me and I took a step backwards. "I don't want to hurt you," she whispered.

"I don't want to get hurt," I replied, suddenly almost silent.

There was a short pause before she grabbed my hand and with surprising strength pushed me into the portal.

Anna still hadn't stopped screaming.

* * *

"Break her memories."

"I can't..."

The man was possibly the most girlish guy I'd ever seen, with pink hair cascading down his face and the smell of roses following him wherever he went. Sitting across the table from him was a small, petite girl with blonde hair and stunning blue eyes. I myself was tied to a chair (even the _rope_ here was white), gagged and helpless. I had been stripped of the necklace that Jack had given me back at Port Royale, which was odd, but I didn't mention it.

"Her memories of him are too strong."

"Then let her remember only his name; we'll be mentioning it enough she would soon learn it regardless, I daresay."

"Marluxia - "

"Do it!"

The blonde girl paused and looked at me, and her expression was absolutely heartbreaking. My last thought was, _Why would they be talking about Anthony?_ But then...

~xXx~

My name is Lexi.

I know nothing but a name.

Do you know who Sora is?

~xXx~

OH MY GOD IT'S BEEN TWO MONTHS.

This was a short-ish chapter split into short-ish parts...I'm thinking it's easier to read that way, but what do you all think?

I have decided that I absolutely hate how I wrote this story (Gawd my writing was soooo bad DX), but I am SUPER excited for the re:CoM story.

...if you still want me to do it, that is.

It will be called 'Loop', and expect it to be up within the week. (Seriously this time. I'm going to start typing it up as soon as this chapter is published.)

I WILL SEE YOU THEN HOPEFULLY~

(Also, the pairings might drift away from Lexi/Sora...I'm hoping to get some controversy about who her Nobody's with and stuff...suffice to say it's not Roxas.)


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